Subject: A.Word.A.Day--karuna

karuna (KUH-roo-na) noun

Loving compassion.

[From Sanskrit karuna (compassion).]

"Once we experience and feel this inter-dependence of all living beings, we will cease to hurt, humiliate, exploit and kill another. We will want to free all sentient beings from suffering. This is karuna, compassion, which in turn gives rise to the responsibility to create happiness and its causes for all."

Suresh Jindal; Interdependence of All Living Beings; The Times of
India (New Delhi); Nov 13, 2003.

Voice of the Voiceless

by Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Poet Laureate of Humanity

I am the voice of the voiceless:
Through me, the dumb shall speak;
Till the deaf world's ear be made to hear
The cry of the wordless weak.
From street, from cage, and from kennel,
From jungle and stall, the wail
Of my tortured kin proclaims the sin
Of the mighty against the frail.

For love is the true religion,
And love is the law sublime;
And all that is wrought, where love is not,
Will die at the touch of time.
And Science, the great Revealer,
Must flame his torch at the Source;
And keep it bright, with that holy light
Or his feet shall fail on the course.

For he who would trample kindness
And mercy into the dust--
He has missed the trail, and his quest will fail:
He is not the guide to trust.
Oh shame on the mothers of mortals
Who have not stopped to teach
Of the sorrow that lies in dear, dumb eyes,
The sorrow that has no speech.

Oh, never a brute in the forest,
And never a snake in the fen,
Or ravening bird, starvation stirred,
Has hunted his prey like men.
For hunger, and fear, and passion
Alone drive beasts to slay,
But wonderful man, the crown of the Plan,
Tortures, and kills, FOR PLAY.

He goes well fed from his table;
He kisses his child and wife;
Then he haunts a wood, till he orphans a brood,
Or robs a deer of its life.
He aims at a speck in the azure;
Winged love, that has flown at a call;
It reels down to die, and he lets it lie;
His pleasure was seeing it fall.

The same force formed the sparrow
That fashioned Man, the King;
The God of the Whole gave a spark of soul
To each furred and feathered thing.
And I am my brother's keeper,
And I will fight his fight,
And speak the word for beast and bird,
Till the world shall set things right.

King of My Heart

I walked the kennels at Carson yesterday afternoon. Particularly in building 2, one attentive dog kept following my every move whenever I happened to be near his kennel.

I did not want to look at him. Not because I didn't care about him, but because at quick glance, I saw that he is a Pit Bull. I love this breed but I am also absolutely useless when it comes to being able to help get them out of the shelters.

Whenever I am at the shelter, I always make an effort to not make eye contact with any of them. If one happens to catch my eyes and insist that I come over to visit, I would find myself asking for his or her forgiveness at my helplessness and inability to give him or her the help so desperately needed.

King would not allow me to pass him on. His gaze was strong and insistent. It happened when I was sitting on the floor right across the way from his kennel looking in on Barney (A3790050) I did not look over toward his direction at all but I could tell he was intently looking at me.
It was a good 10 minutes before I finally relented and glanced over toward his cage.
There sat a magnificently calm and gorgeous dog looking right at me. I came over and he immediately exchanged the calm exterior and jumped into a dance of joy! He genuine joy was infectious and I found myself sinking onto the cement floor right outside his cage talking to him. He pressed his whole body against the mesh wire of the cage door so that I can pet him from his head to his tail.

It was clear that he has won over my heart. I looked at his kennel card and noticed that someone has given him the name "King". King (A3773848) arrived at the Carson shelter on January 15 by way of being discarded by "the family". He is just 4-years old.

King is a special dog. One who could be the ambassador of his breed. Despite his circumstance and current situation of being stuck in one of the worse shelters in the LA County system, King is bright and hopeful. It was as if all the hope and joy and whatever the components of a bright sunny day were gathered and packed into this wonderful being dancing around his cage in front of me. Not only was my heart swelling up with love for King, I found myself in awe at his resilient, fighting spirit!

I told King the truth. I told him that I'm not much help when it comes to helping his breed, because of all the stigma and prejudices from society against his breed. I told King that I will try and hope that by some miraculous chance, I can get him help to get out of Carson by walking out through the front gate. How? I've no idea but I know I have to try.