Final Paper

Ashley MacBrien

06703990

Comp 105

08 December 2014

Paw Prints in Society

            Imagine you place yourself in their paws.  Put yourself in their mindset of pain, fear, and confusion.  One minute you are in a cage with a blanket, being fed food on a regular basis, essentially rescued from the outside world.  The next minute you are placed on a table, an IV is put in your arm, and you drift to sleep and never wake up.  This is what happens all over the country to animals in shelters.  Shelters that don’t want a certain breed of animal, don’t have enough space, or the animal is too old to get adopted that they don’t feel the need to keep them alive any longer.  This is an issue in many communities and needs to be addressed and discussed.  The fact that animal shelters are euthanizing helpless animals for no legitimate reason is unimaginable and utterly disturbing, they can’t even speak for themselves.  There are two main types of shelters: no kill shelters and kill shelters.  The main difference between them is self-explanatory; one shelter euthanizes, or kills, and the other will not kill the animals and therefore gives them an opportunity for a fulfilling and loving life.  People know this is happening every day, and choose not to react or take any action whatsoever.  The animals cannot speak for themselves, and therefore humans must give them a voice.  The animals have not done anything wrong to cause their lives to be taken from them so carelessly and frequently.  Anybody can help, all they need to do is set small goals for themselves for taking action.  Grace Lee Boggs says, “… the movement today, in this period and this country, is being created not by the cadres of a vanguard party with a common ideology, but by individuals and groups responding creatively with passion and imagination to the real problems and challenges that they face where they live and work” (Boggs 178).  Where people live and work is their community, and making the community a better place is a tremendous goal.  Grace Lee Boggs summarizes my point exactly by describing how people should accomplish their goals to improve their community.  Every voice helps, no matter how small the action is.  Whether it is making a small monetary donation, volunteering your time in a shelter, or picking an animal off the streets and taking them to a no kill shelter.  These small goals will add up over time to one overall goal, which is giving the animals a voice and saving their lives.    

            I have many personal experiences with this topic.  I myself own two dogs, a German shepherd and a Rhodesian Ridgeback, who are rescued from shelters, and given a life full of love and attention.  I fully support shelters that refuse to euthanize and become inventive in how they save the animals, instead of taking the easy way out to save space and money for the shelter.  More and more no kill shelters are disappearing because they struggle to stay in business and stay afloat in the economy.  I was part of the National Honor Society in high school.  For a final project we had to incorporate a community service that addressed an issue within the community, where we had to take a leadership role and take action on that issue within the community.  I chose to focus my project on animal shelters, and specifically no kill animal shelters.  I started volunteering at an exclusively cat, no kill shelter in Royal Oak called New Beginnings Animal Rescue, or NBAR for short.  Their organization has become extremely successful over the years of operation.  As soon as I volunteered there, I fell in love with what they had to offer to the world of animals.  The cats there are extremely well taken care of and are given lots of love and attention.  They have an organized system of many volunteers who truly love what they do.  They have a system that reminds me of the food stamp program, except for animals.  People who own a dog or a cat and cannot afford the proper amount of food can come into the shelter with a bucket and get food every month for their pets.  If the people adopt another pet while on this food program, they will no longer be eligible to receive any food because they irresponsibly took in another pet when they can’t even afford the first one.  This method promotes responsibility in pet owners to not adopt more pets if they can’t take proper care of them, they are a living creature.  They have this system operating under strictly a donation basis.  Anyone can donate food, money, time, or all three.  New Beginnings Animal Rescue also looks into other shelters near them, especially kill shelters, and tries to convince them to become no kill shelters.  Even if they do not convert to a no kill shelter, they look at their population of cats and try to take in as many as they can fit in order to save them from being euthanized by the shelter.  New Beginnings Animal Rescue has an organization spreadsheet that allows the volunteers to set different goals for themselves.  Some of those goals include the number of hours you volunteer a day, week, and month, the different events you participate in, monetary donations, and even various goals for the cats.  Many cats that come into the shelter are severely traumatized to the point where socializing them with other cats becomes difficult, so volunteers can set small goals for the cats to achieve as you help them.

            When you care about something very deeply, you set goals for yourself and for that organization.  You feel the need to speak out about the issue and do everything you possibly can to help make things as best as possible.  By slowly setting larger and larger goals, New Beginnings Animal Rescue was able to become a very successful no kill cat shelter.  They wanted to be able to save as many cats as possible and give them the opportunity to receive a ‘forever home’.  There many other shelters in Michigan that follow the no-kill mentality.  They give the animals a voice, and an opportunity for a fulfilling life. 

            The first no-kill shelter that I found is called Animal Welfare Society of Southeastern Michigan, or AWS for short.   This organization was formed by concerned veterinarians and individuals who were alarmed at the rate of euthanasia that is performed on perfectly healthy and social animals.  They rescue animals from other shelters in Michigan and Ohio, take in strays, and take in animals that owners surrender to them.  Over the past 30 years AWS has found homes for over 20,000 animals that were once “unwanted”.  They pride themselves in the fact that they educate pet owners on responsible pet care and on the importance of spaying and neutering to avoid overpopulation.  They also offer a free pet food program, similar to NBAR, where people can get assistance obtaining food for their dogs or cats can stop in the shelter to pick up the food.  They are a successful, nonprofit organization that saves thousands of lives by being compassionate about what they believe in, setting goals, and doing everything they can to accomplish those goals. 

            The last no-kill shelter that I found is called Almost Home located in Southfield Michigan.  It was founded by a very passionate woman with her daughter.  Almost Home is dedicated to finding loving forever homes for homeless animals.  They are a non-profit, truly no-kill organization.  The owner says, “Most of the animals that we rescue are so frightened, confused, and sick.  It breaks my heart to see them in this condition.  There is nothing more rewarding than to help them recover from these traumas.  Hugging them, bathing them, loving them, and giving them a sense of security is just a start” (Montgomery).  What drives this owner to keep going is the small steps that it takes to nurture an animal back to health.  The small goals that they achieve with each different animal will all add up to the success of the shelter. 

Two very important people in history that set goals in order to accomplish important milestones and pushed themselves to the absolute limit to accomplish their goals were Benazir Bhutto and Martin Luther King Jr.  Benazir Bhutto dedicated her life to try and gain democracy in Pakistan.  She was an inspiration to many people and had many significant accomplishments in her life.  In her text she says, “As I have grown in maturity and experience, I remain as strongly committed to the cause but more patient in finding means to achieve goals peacefully” (Bhutto 192).  She had a method in which she achieved her goals.  She wanted to encourage peace, but at the same time, accomplish very powerful goals.  This takes a very precise balance of patience and responsibility, and I am in awe of her persistence.  She kept going back to fight for her cause peacefully, giving speeches and participating in parades, even when her safety was in question.  She fought with peace and most importantly, never gave up on her goals.   
            The second person who set goals for themselves and for others was Martin Luther King Jr.  His goals were to end segregation and give every human, no matter what race, equal rights under the law.  His main way of achieving these goals was through peace.  He was willing to sacrifice a lot in order to achieve his goals, and he pushed himself to the limit.  He went to jail for the cause of returning true democracy to the United States.  And while he was in jail, he wrote a letter.  This letter was meant to inspire others when he was trapped behind bars.  He says, “We must use time creatively, and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right.  Now is the time to make real the promise of democracy, and transform our pending national elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood” (King 284).  He is saying that in order to achieve his goals, he must act in a timely manner, and use time to his advantage.  Even though people saw his approach as an extremist, it showed that he had enough persistence and power to get people’s attention.  When you accomplish multiple small goals in a timely manner that lead to one big goal, then you will be successful.  Even physically trapped behind bars, he didn’t let that stumbling block stop him.  He wrote a letter for any and every one to read to get his opinions out there.  He was an inspirational leader to many people, and never gave up on his goals. 
            One day at track practice of my senior year of high school a co-captain wrote a quote up on the white board that was in our team room.  This quote inspired me a great deal and I still can exactly quote it today.  It read, “Run when you can, walk if you have to, crawl if you must, just never ever give up” (Stark).  This quote meant a lot to me, because sometimes, no matter how hard I worked on accomplishing something, it felt as if I could only crawl to the finish line.  That quote stayed up on the wall for weeks and I was curious what it meant to her, or if it was inspiration to keep going.  She was the best hurdler, one of the most talented athletes I had ever met, and one of the most dedicated runners on the team, and so what she told me left me in shock and awe.  She told me that the quote was inspired by me and my attitude toward achieving what I strived for, for myself and for everyone around me.  She told me that I inspire her in the fact that I never gave up on my goals and I never gave up on others, even if it got really tough.  This quote can be applied to much more than just running track.  It applies to all goals, no matter the depth and size of the impact.   If you believe in a cause, then the best time to act is now.  Don’t wait for someone else to step up and take action, because what if no one ever does.  One of the best lessons learned through this research is that once you set your mind to a goal, no matter the size, do absolutely everything possible to achieve that goal.