Helping people and animals

[Guest guest]

The following excerpt is about the experience of one of India's leading

animal advocates who was speaking about her experience in Delhi where she

was running a shelter called 'Animals Friend':

 

No, being a pagal memsahib did not worry me in the least. What did cause me

great heartache were the numerous times that I had been let down by my

allies, people I thought were like minded, who I believed had the same

passion and commitment to the work as I did myself. This I found extremely

disillusioning and it saddened me terribly when, one day, a friend and

colleague remarked, 'Why are we chasing after people now? I thought our job

was with the animals. There are enough organizations to take care of

suffering humanity: the American Red Cross, Mother Teresa, UNICEF, and

literally dozens of societies. Must we take on this mission as well?'

This was said after we had taken a group of Tibetan babies from the Buddha

Vihara refugee settlement; all were suffering from pneumonia and would

easily have died without medical attention. I was shocked by my colleague's

statement.

To me compassion is all embracing. It can not be stuffed into a single

comparttment. I have never been able to see how it is possible to feel

compassion for an injured kitten or dog and not feel the same for a sick

baby or a destitute old woman. Or vice-versa, for that matter. If the pagal

memsahib can make a small difference to any living creature's life with her

so-called madness then that is the way I choose to be.

 

-Crystal Rogers, MAD DOGS AND AN ENGLISHWOMAN, pages 114 and

115, Penguin Books, 2000