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The Revised Starfish Story(Our thanks to to Jan Hilborn at National English Shepherd Rescue for allowing us to use this story)There was a man once, sitting on a bench, killing time in the Mall while he waited for some friends to finish shopping. He enjoyed watching the people go by: the young couples in love, the families, the intent shoppers, and the Mall Walkers. He liked watching them all. The bench he was sitting on was outside a Pet Supply Store and eventually he noticed that there was a rescue group in the front of the store, off to one side. They had many dogs with them. The dogs were beautifully groomed and seemed very happy. Some people were visiting with them and petting them and occasionally filling out some paperwork. Most people were ignoring them. And no dogs were leaving the store. The man was intrigued. He went into the store. A Golden Retriever with three tennis balls in her mouth came up to greet him. A small fluffy dog of unidentifiable breeding sat at his feet and looked up at him expectantly. There were two Labs and a beautiful German Shepherd. Toward the back, an elderly collie quietly stood gently wagging his tail. The man turned to one of the rescue workers "How can you keep doing this?" he asked in amazement. "For every dog you find a home for, there are a dozen more at the pound, two dozen more tied up and forgotten in backyards around the county, and uncounted dozens being born to unscrupulous breeders only to end up unwanted and neglected. Why do you bother? Don't you know that what you are doing doesn't make any difference at all?" The rescue worker smiled and picked up the small fluffy dog. "But it does make a difference. It makes a difference to this dog. And to this one. And to this one." The Starfish story revised by Jan Hilborn at National English Shepherd Rescue. Permission has been granted to freely reprint and distribute this document as long as NESR at "http://www.uvm.edu/~jhilborn/rescue.html" is credited. |
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