Newsletter Articles written by Tera Thomas
Issue 16
Love is the Answer to Every Question
by Tera Thomas
My sister, Laura, takes care of feral cats. She traps them, spays or neuters them, vaccinates them, feeds them, makes friends with them, and watches over them. A few weeks ago a small brown tabby showed up at Laura’s house. He was very skinny and limping and she thought he was a kitten. Laura took him to the vet. He had a dislocated hip and the vet estimated he was over two-years old—he had the frame of a 10 pound cat and weighed only 5 pounds. Too sick to weather the anesthesia, he went home with Laura to fatten up so he could have his hip fixed and be neutered.
Skinny Boy, as he was affectionately called until his own name could be found, became a lover. He was friendly, sweet, and loved to be petted. Not only was Laura falling in love with him, so were two of her friends. But after only a few days, Skinny Boy collapsed and could not walk. He died in Laura’s lap. Laura and her two friends were devastated. In such a short time, this small cat had touched their hearts.
Skinny Boy did not have an easy life. He was nearly starved, and was dragging himself around with a dislocated hip. Yet, he was not afraid of people. In fact, he greeted them with an open, trusting heart and his love was contagious. Everyone who met this cat opened their heart to him and fell in love. When Laura told me his story over the phone, Skinny Boy touched me from 1,000 miles away. I cried as if I had known and loved him, and I thought about him for days.
On TV I saw the story of a seeing-eye dog that jumped in front his person to stop him from walking into the road. The dog was hit by a car and was killed; the person was saved by this heroic act. We have seen this story over and over. Not the exact same story, but the story of the love that animals have for humans. Cats lie next to the ill and dying to comfort them; dogs dig through rubble to find survivors, horses touch the hearts of autistic children who were previously unreachable, canaries live in cages and sing to cheer us, fish live in small aquariums to give us a sense of peace and calm.
Animals lift our spirits, open our hearts, give their lives to assist us, save our lives. And they do it over and over. They are so selfless, so loving, so compassionate, and so absolutely giving. What miracles they are.
All of my life I have been touched by animals. I dreamed of living in the country, surrounded by them. And now, many years later, I am amazed at how close to those childhood dreams I have come. I live with 17 animals, not counting the wildlife. I sometimes realize that I am their servant, caring for their every need, and I am grateful as my heart is touched and opened constantly by their presence.
There are days when I am not so grateful. I have a running argument with the llamas as they insist on peeing and pooping in the barn all summer. They like to lie in front of the fans instead of out under the trees where, in my opinion, it is much cooler. This “nasty” habit of theirs causes me no end of grief, not to mention a heck of a lot of work. In fact, it makes me angry. They stand up to pee, why couldn’t they take ten steps to go do it outside and save us all a lot of problems?
I was grumbling about this the other day. It was hot and sticky and the barn smelled like a sewer and the sweat was running down my face and I just lost it. “I am so sick of this! You could go outside so I don’t have to do this work! I am so tired of this I could just cry!” And then I did cry.
My goat kids, only 4 months old, had been leaping around to see who could stand on the chair the longest, and they stopped still. Llamas Shanti, Lucy, and Rainbow stood, shocked to see me so upset Then Inka, my beautiful teacher, walked up beside me and touched my cheek with his nose. He was so silent, so calm, and his eyes were full of love for me. Inka is a wise llama and has often told me that the answer to every question is love. And this is what I suddenly knew. The answer to every question is love. Even if the question is, “Why do I have to clean up this barn?” The answer is love.
Love is what the animals teach us and I pray every day to be more like them. The animals are able to love even the worst of us humans in the worst of conditions on the worst of days. In their shining hours, in their darkest hours, with their first breath and with their last, the animals are able to let the force of love flow through them and to touch our hearts. Bless them, all of the animals who teach us and touch us and open our hearts, the ones we live with every day, the ones we hear about on TV, and bless the small cat called Skinny Boy.
