Cradle the Broken Pieces…

A friendship that sees them daily cradling their broken pieces as they make their way back to the world. A world now illuminated by human kindness and care. As they learn to trust in a species they could well be justified in believing does not deserve it, their capacity to forgive is exemplary, as their lives bloom in so many wonderful ways.

And just as we look at what has harmed them, we too find what can heal them.

And ourselves.

A look at the broken pieces.

The inconsistencies our society has when it comes to the things that matter most.

Justice, kindness and the value of life, regardless of who the holder of that life is.

Breaking lives and spirits, it would seem, is the mantra when it comes to the farmed animals of this world. For our kind has routinely failed them in our thoughts, deeds and selective animal protection legislation.

Yet it is in the survivors of this unjust system that hope springs.

Theirs and ours.

Hope that the past can be the past, as forgiveness guides us and them forward to a fairer and more equitable way of living, shaping the present and becoming the future.

For just as their lives can change, so can ours – when we cradle the broken pieces.

We humans have become broken by a cognitive dissonance that runs parallel to the best of our humanity. The part that shuns violence and injustice. The part that seeks harmony and happiness. The part that has the mettle to change and say, “I am not going to be a cog in this wheel any more.”

And whilst it can be hard to touch our broken pieces, we have the forgiveness for ourselves to do so, as we cannot go on as we are. Our current way of living and the planet cannot sustain this.

For what we do to animals, we shall eventually do to ourselves, as hardened hearts do not stop at a species. And as those hearts become brittle and crumble into a million sharded pieces, only unconditional love can help them heal.

For what shall make us whole is when we have the courage and compassion to cradle our broken pieces.