It is hard to know what to say to people who have just become aware of an act of
cruelty against an animal. People experience feelings of sadness, anger,
confusion and a million other emotions and since animal abuse is rife the World
over, it is unlikely those feelings will ever go away. Often we live with
others who don't seem to understand our pain, they think we are being overly
sensitive or sentimental and no matter how much we try to make them understand,
tell them what is happening they seem to be unaffected which just adds to our
confusion and intensifies our feelings and emotions. Many animal activists
spend their days seeming very strong, getting down to business helping animals
pushing emotions aside to be a use to animals but the quiet and stillness of
the night brings many tears and pain. Sometimes they are lucky enough to
have an understanding partner and/or family but many muffle their cries under a
pillow or end up locked in the bathroom crying by themselves.
Those
that don't deal practically with animals will become desensitised to photos and
information over time but it does not diminish in any way their resolution to
see cruelty stopped. Don't feel guilty if in a few weeks you can look at
a photo of animal abuse without crying but don't be surprised if after you have
reached this point, that a single photo, newspaper article or comment will start
you from the beginning again. Desensitisation is the human method for
coping with profound emotions, we need to cope in order to continue the struggle.
Doctors, nurses, vets and police officers all experience this.
If they were all in the throes of despair from witnessing, sad, painful or horrifying
situations, very little would get done. That said, we must be careful
not to get overly desensitised, a problem created unwittingly by the media,
we must always remind ourselves that what we see in photos and film is real and
true and to keep ourselves abreast of the problems facing animals, not to find
ourselves becoming tired of dealing with the issues when they appear too horrific
to be true at all..
Honestly, I don't think anything can be done
to take away the pain of knowing that animals are being tortured, neglected
or abused, the only thing we can do to lessen it's grip on our hearts is to direct
our energy into the campaigns for change. In dealing with this, you will have
good days, bad days and days when you think you just can't cope but you will
get through, you have to, the animals need you. Think of animal aid workers
on the frontlines, holding dying animals, pulling puppies out of garbage bags,
carrying animals to weak from starvation to stand, those looking into the eyes
of confused tortured circus animals and though it doesn't diminish your pain
it can put things in perspective, if only a little.
It is a long
road ahead and we must be strong, we must be bold, we must believe in ourselves
if we are to survive it emotionally and more importantly if the animals are going
to survive it at all. You are not alone...talk to someone on the Internet
if you have no one to talk to at home, it may help.
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