Finders Keepers

Heads down, eyes averted, they slide down the fence line and into the openness of a new area. We are their enemy. Or so they think. Having arrived at the pound, separately through different circumstances, their fate was set soon to become a common one. And one all too common for farmed animals such as they.

But then fate intervened.

And instead of harsh voices and barking dogs to herd the abandoned sheep into the strangeness of a large box, it was soothing words, no fixed stare and gentle actions.

And that box did not have a steely floor, as they so often do – a reflection of the hearts of those who goad them inside. But it was a straw-lined trailer, soft and well protected from the weather and harsh reality of so many of their less-than-fortunate brethren, a wee hint of the many comforts they were promised that would surely follow.

They were confused.

Yet, they complied.

For such gentle animals are sheep. They cause us no menace, but alas our kind cannot lay claim to such a humility. For we humans have manipulated their lives for our ends and in doing so denied their sentience.

Denied the fact their lives have meaning to them. Lives that are imbued with loss and grief (more often than not of our doing) but so too of parenthood, family, joy, happiness, curiosity, hope and more.

And if that sounds familiar to you, it should. For what courses through their veins is the very stuff that courses through ours; what fuels their hearts are the very things that set ours on fire; and what makes their minds work is just so similar to our own.

And when you find this as your truth, it will surely be forever kept in your heart. It shall become your compass and guide your thoughts, actions and deeds to make the world a better place for all.

So welcome dear Finders and Keepers, welcome.