Monday, August 01, 2011

from the mouths of babes

Holy Moly. This one really got to me...

A summer kids camp at Pet's Lifeline in Sonoma County recently introduced a group of kids to pit bulls via the story 'Saving Audie.' Audie as you probably know, was rescued from Bad Newz Kennels and the story covers his rescue and recovery in kid-friendly photos and text.

After digesting the story, a 12 year old girl wrote this essay - from the dog's perspective (Copied exactly as she wrote it):

Bang. Loud rambicios roudy yells of the tall gangely men and and some stalky staring down at me there faces hard looking me agressively in the eye I backed against the side of the pen and a surging sting quivering through my body as I was shunted forward a single word forming on my owners lips on who broke me one who beat me all feeling pulsing in my head the wall of sound behind me "fight".
he mouthed the dog opposite me head lolling in confusion but behined the bared teeth I saw a spark only for a split second it read a single word love. and behined the bared teeth I looked into the dogs sole it was there a kind loving other being. A dark shadow crossed his face a hurt tortured look. And the fight began. I closed my eyes.
I woke up some time later how much time had passed I didn't know it could be weeks or months or years. But the pain was behined me of the fight. But it was still with me it had formed me in the deepest part of my broken heart. A worker dressed in a uniform passed by shooting me a sorrow filled glance and I flashed back in my mind to that terrible place. Pressing myself against the cinder block wall crumpling in a corner. I wanted to float away like a balloon drifting further and further awy from this place of misery and hurt. Then suddenly a heavy metal door opened and soft warm loving eyes met mine she didn't look at me like I was a monster or a terror and she opened her hands in a frindly gesture and suddenly the cinder block wall felt cold so on shaking quivering legs I got up and walked toward a new life."


That's a whole lotta deep thinking for a 12 year old. It's certainly going to be interesting to see what the new generation brings to animal welfare as they come into adulthood with books like Saving Audie as their guideposts.

With many thanks to Roxanne Alden of Pets Lifeline, and to the young author of this essay (she's the taller girl smiling on the right and wearing blue.)

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, that little girl did a great job! Hopefully she will remember what she has learned & help educate others about this wonderful breed of dog!

Jess @ Instyledog said...

Love! I feel like this would've been me as a little girl :)

I'm SO excited to see this next generation of animal lovers rise up and defend our fuzzy friends!

Lark said...

GORGEOUS, gorgeous post. I hope that little girl has teachers and other adults encouraging her in her writing!

Nancy said...

I have just sent the book and the lesson plans to my friend/college roommate who is a media specialist (the "old" librarian) in an inner city school in a North Texas town. I hope her kids get the same message that this young girl did and the other class that was blogged about a few months ago. My friend said these kids need this kind of lesson.

paradisepatti said...

Thank you Pet's Lifeline, Thank you Roxanne for pulling me back in. Some times we forget how powerful love can be.

4DawgMa said...

wow. Wow. WOW. "on shaking quivering legs I got up and walked toward a new life".

(tears)

Heather Cherry said...

I'm speechless.

Crystal said...

That gave me goosebumps! If she is is the future of our beloved breed, then there IS hope!

Gina said...

From the proud mother of the author...

Thank YOU, Roxanne and Donna, for heightening awareness on a very important issue, and for giving our 3 daughters (the author's 2 younger sisters are in the pic too—red head in front of her and the one wearing glasses in the center) the opportunity to flex their empathy muscles. Our oldest has always LOVED writing and she gets lots of encouragement, recently from Annie Lamott (!), after one of her poems was published in a statewide anthology. Let's just say I'm a writer or sorts and the girl has been published more in 12 years than I have in 45. (: She's passionate about storytelling. Thanks too for sharing her piece on your site. She wanted me to convey that it's a first draft!

Keep up the inspiring work.

Gina
http://bewelltogether.blogspot.com

A Confessed Pit Bull Addict said...

That's a lot of empathy from such a young girl (ans some impressive story telling skills)! I have a feeling she will grow up to do powerful things. I hope others who read Audie's story also find themselves inspired, touched or changed. Thanks, Bad Rap!

Sarah said...

Two lines in and I'm thinking "God, this is poetry." What an amazing young woman. The dogs are fortunate to have her on their side. Thanks so much for sharing!