Clutter

They say we use only 10% of our brain’s capacity.  When I first heard that figure I couldn't believe it.  How could we only be using that little of our potential.  Then, the more I thought about it; there is some truth to that fact.  The reason being, and I’m speaking personally here, is that 90% of my brain is cluttered with crap.

I know the lyrics to hundreds of songs by heart.  I could be listening to the radio and hear a song for the first time in 15 years, and the next thing I know I’m singing along without missing a beat!  I know so many nonsensical trivia facts that I could give the contestants on Jeopardy a run for their money.  As long as the categories are about beer, animals, Florida history and cartoon shows, I would be the next champion.  And don’t even get me started about my favorite commercials.  “Mike, Mike, Mike, what day is it...” happily rattled around my head for months drowning any important work-related information.  And one liners from movies, I've got those down pat from dozens and dozens of films.

As for the important stuff, the things I learned in college, you know knowledge I actually paid to learn in the hopes of using some day; all of that got buried under my next favorite silly tidbit.  College algebra got flushed by the Christmas Rant from National Lampoon Christmas Vacation, which I can recite stone cold. "I want to look him straight in the eye and tell him what a cheap, lying, rotten..." you get the idea.  The Spanish verbs I spent four years conjugating were vaporized by watching my favorite YouTube cat videos hundreds of times.  I’m surprised if I can remember Hola and De Nada on a good day.

The Shakespeare’s sonnets that I once wrote so eloquently about in English Composition were blown away after I learned the lyrics to Taylor Swift’s Shake It Off and Megan Trainer’s All About That Bass.  I can sing these songs at the drop of a hat, but "to be or not to be": good luck i I can remember what, let alone who.  Plato got suffocated under the weight of 12 years of American Idol.  And "I think, therefore I am," got obliterated by my reality television marathons.  Who said that anyway, wasn't it Desert Cart? 

I need to start looking into how to remove all this garbage that has piled up.  There is so many black trash bags and cobweb covered boxes stacked up that I can't find anything when I need it!  I wonder if there are College Hunks that I could hire to haul this crap out of my head. My brain is so damn cluttered that I’m lucky I can still remember my honey’s name --- its .... oh look at this new cat video I just found!

The Ties that Bind

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We all have heard the saying that the eyes are the windows to the soul. 

If you look in the eyes of an animal, you see nothing but unconditional love and absolute trust.

Animals can gaze out at the world with such endless joy and a sense of fun; or at least that is how they should see the world.

If you happen to catch the gaze of an animal who has experienced the dark side of human nature and been subjected to unspeakable horrors, you will see fear, pain and a deep seated mistrust of mankind.

Yet in that tortured gaze there is a glimmer of hope, hidden and buried, but there nonetheless.

Hope that the worst is behind them as a calm, loving hand tenderly reaches out to pet them.

Hope at the gentle voice that beckons and consoles their tormented emotions.

And hope of a safer future as they are lifted from their struggle by strong arms that will shield them from the terrors of their past.

These strong arms, soft voices and gentle hands belong to those individuals who are selflessly and compassionately driven to rescue those animals who have been forgotten, abused and shoved to the fringe of society.

Countless numbers have been rescued from their plights, yet countless more remain.

Those with the higher calling to rescue will continue their mission; and those suffering will be found and healed.

“Not to hurt our humble brethren, the animals, is our first duty... We have a higher mission – to be of service to them whenever they require it.  If you have men who will exclude any of God’s creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who deal likewise with their fellow men” – St. Francis.

Those who rescue the lost are shining examples of the compassion, love and above all hope that can be seen shining from the eyes of those animals who have been saved. 

Those loving gazes; that hope, that compassion and unconditional love are the ties that bind us together as a community; those ties are what calls us to value each other and above all the animals.