Remembering Nooka #09 … euthanizing euthanasia (08/15/2018)
One of my favorite things to do when I was living at the farm (off and on from 2006 through 2011) was work in the woods … Nooka almost always went with me whenever I did so, and would go exploring nearby while I pruned tree branches and cleared felled logs and trimmed back overgrown paths … I frequently lost track of time while working — often near to the point of dehydrated exhaustion — and yet Nooka was always watching out for me, and always made it very clear when it was time to head back to rest awhile on the back porch … She wasn’t much of a snuggler, that Nooka (understatement) and yet I still remember warmly those times when I would sit in my rocking chair on that porch — sipping tea or lemonade –and watching the woods and everything in it swell & grow & flow & breath ……… with Nooka smoothly sleeping at my side.
Remembering Nooka #08 … a HOME away from home
Even though Nooka was “my dog” — almost as much as I was “her human” — I did spend the majority of her life away from the farm (mostly working & living in Germany) and thus away from her … Nooka had other friends, of course — my mother, my stepfather, several employees of my stepfather’s company who worked nearby — and yet Nooka was exceptionally social (even for a dog) and regularly pined for human interaction; so much so that by all indications she went looking for the same throughout the neighborhood; indeed so much so that she then finally found the same in the form of my folks’ neighbors — Russell & Maria …
By all indications, whenever Nooka was feeling lonely she would — for many days of more than a few years — set out and walk all the way to Russell & Maria’s house, where she not only made herself at home, but was also welcomed there as though she was truly Home. Below is a picture of her hanging out on Russell & Maria’s front porch, and I place it here to simply say THANK YOU to these lovely people who so humbly and so fully accepted Nooka into their Family — even though she technically “belonged” elsewhere.
Remembering Nooka #09 … euthanizing Euthanasia
It was 2 years ago today that Nooka passed away, and yet hers was not a natural death — for Nooka was euthanized. She had been tragically hit by a car a few days prior and was indeed in pain and not doing very well. Despite this I had been assured a few days prior to her death that she was doing much better and might very well pull through. I expressed my clear-cut wishes that she NOT be “put out of her misery” — that if she didn’t improve I would fly home immediately to be by her side and provide whatever comfort I could while she passed onward. And yet my parents decided to “put her down” anyway — telling me after it was done that they had done so; meekly claiming that it was the “most merciful” thing to do.
This belief, of course, is and always will be absolute rubbish. In honor of her tragic passing — and in atonement for not being able to give her the noble death she more than deserved — I write this final tribute as an expose of a little known Truth — namely: THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A JUSTIFIABLE “MERCY KILLING.”
That’s right — at least when it comes to animals (who, unlike us humans, cannot clearly enunciate their potential wishes to live on or die) — if we are going to be honest with ourselves, we humans always ultimately euthanize our suffering animal companions not to alleviate their suffering, but rather to ease our own. For in truth the very last thing any suffering animal wants is to die. No, what they want (quite obviously, if we are truly paying any real attention) is for us to help ease their suffering and for us to be present with them while we do so — either while they heal or while they pass onward.
And even though it is probably uncomfortable for many of you to hear, doesn’t this Truth simply make common sense? We say we deeply Love our animal Friends, and that is why we euthanize them. We say they are like members of our own families, and that is why we kill them — in order to “be compassionate” and “ease their suffering” … Really?!?!? If any human member of your family was suffering and couldn’t speak — if he or she was in very clear distress but could not communicate his or her wishes — would any of you euthanize them in order to “ease their suffering”? Would any of you choose to kill a son or a daughter or a parent or a cousin if they were in great — even terminal — pain and couldn’t communicate their wishes regarding the same? Would any of you actually err on the side of believing that those loved ones wanted to die rather than be soothed or comforted? Would any of you actually think it would be a good idea to euthanize those family members instead of providing them with pain relief and your loving presence? OF COURSE NOT!
Well, if you truly LOVE your animal companions, then you do indeed LOVE them like family. And if you do indeed LOVE them like family, then you will never ever ever ever choose to euthanize them – period!
In essence, it’s time to kill the killing, my Friends … It’s time to set aside our own subconscious convenience and our own inbred sense of arrogance whenever an animal Friend is suffering. Because a few things are certain – A) our animal Friends most certainly do NOT want to be euthanized (certainly not by the ones they love the most), and B) we ourselves most certainly do not know when it is the best time for them to die.
What we can do in those moments is provide them with pain relief … What we can do in those times is provide them with our caring presence … What we can do is be with them and show them LOVE while they pass onward in their own way and in their own time.
Amen, my dear Friends … Please allow this Truth to reach your Hearts, and then please let it finally be so.
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