Several years ago my most favorite guilty pleasure was
watching the television show “Intervention”. I was always excited to see people
go from the depths of despair to a full life of hope and healing. Most often,
that is what would happen. The show would chronicle the life of an addict, an
intervention would take place, recovery and then a reunion and update at the
end. On occasion the addict would choose not to go to or to leave treatment
early and the result was an unhappy ending.
Recent events at the farm and the current heated political
environment have got me thinking about other forms of intervention. On Mothers
Day, my friend called me while I was out lunching with my mom and sister. One
of the young barn cats, 7months old, had just given birth and they had found 5
babies in 3 different areas of the barn. The mom was not interested in feeding
a couple of the babies, so they had taken the one that was in the worst shape
with them and were driving to the feed store to buy some kitten formula. Upon
hearing the news, we cut our outing short and I returned to the farm.
Over the next few days I would spend countless hours trying
to entice the mom to nurse her babies, for those she would not nurse I was
bottle feeding them. The mom would randomly move the kittens around the hayloft
and I would struggle to get to them when they would cry for food. Slowly and
one by one they started to die. After the first two deaths, I took the
remaining 3 kittens into the house. They
were very sick with pneumonia and were struggling to breathe. I spent the next
two weeks medicating, feeding, and cleaning the kittens. Two more would suffer
deaths by suffocation as I could not get a handle on the illness. At one point,
I was holding a dying kitten begging my husband to help me end its life as it
was suffering so much. My husband refused to help me saying, “You got involved,
you have to see this thing through.” He
was right. I had gotten involved. I had chosen to interrupt the nature of life
for these kittens. Had I made a good decision? After two more kittens had
passed and I had spent countless hours researching feline illness and talking
with the Carver Scott humane society, I had one kitten that was thriving. She
was doing great! She was eating, sleeping, breathing, pooping and playing with
my kids. For 3 weeks she thrived.
Then out of nowhere, she choked on something. Food, litter,
I don’t know, but within a matter of minutes of my return from a baseball game,
she was dead. I had fed her right before
I left, and she was fine and only three breaths after I picked her up on my
return and she was dead. Really!?!? Why
did this happen? I could only sit and
stare at her thinking about the number of hours we had spend giving her care
and attention, only to have her die too.
In the hours that followed, I tried to make sense of all
that we had gone through. I kept coming back to the same question, “Should I
have gotten involved?” Should I have just left the kittens in the barn and let
nature take its course? The end result was the same. What difference had it
made?
In my quiet moments, the whisper I heard in response was
this, “The end result was in fact the same, but the journey was very
different.” These kittens died in our arms, not on a cold barn floor. They felt
warmth and love, and kindness and kisses. They experienced the love and giggles
of children who marveled at their existence. They were not alone.
As I listen to the world around me and hear people’s
ideology about when to help others and in what manner, I am always stunned by
those who don’t want to “get involved” in “taking care” of others. Those who
believe they have it all figured out and know exactly how we and our government
should or should not help our fellow citizens. Aid, or no aid, welfare, or no
welfare, I have no idea as to what we should or should not do. But I do know
this. Regardless of the outcome, the world at large is better when we unite and
create a community around those who are suffering, sick or in need. So title me however you want politically, but
as for me, I will always choose to get involved. I believe that is what God
wants us to do.
