[New] Paws for a Cause

WRITTEN BY PAULETTE DEAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR DANVILLE HUMANE SOCIETY

The South is blessed with beautiful foliage, and crape myrtle trees are among the prettiest, in my opinion. Until two years ago, I had a beautiful one outside my kitchen window. In the spring and summer, the vibrant pink blooms covered the entire tree, and in the fall, the leaves were a brilliant yellow.

One winter day, I stayed in the car for a few extra minutes after church because I didn’t want to disturb the birds feeding at my bird feeder. The mourning doves and finches ate, but remained on alert for hawks and outside cats. They flew away when I opened the window to take a picture of them. The crape myrtle tree had lost all of its leaves, but I thought the bare branches of the tree looked so pretty against the blue sky. We were going through a hard time at work, with many cruelty investigations and many difficult people with whom to deal. On that bleak winter day, as I looked at the bare branches, I felt bleak.

And then I saw a beautiful red cardinal hiding in the branches. He was barely visible, but once I noticed him, he added a pretty splash of color to the picture. The entire tree seemed to be prettier.

No doubt about it, the news from around the world is sobering. Society seems to have become coarser, with a cacophony of voices vilifying anyone or any philosophy that does not completely align with theirs.

During the hard shelter days, I look for red cardinals and I always find them. They come in the guise of a kindhearted person who brings a suffering stray animal to us, or a child who asks friends to bring gifts for the shelter to a birthday party, or a volunteer who spends time with the animals. Instead of seeing a lone red cardinal, I find flocks of them in my day.

Of course, let us not forget the companion animals who may not understand what we are experiencing, but they do what comes naturally to them—they nurture us and calm us. Perhaps nature has known all along that our companion animals are the best red cardinals of all.