Finding the value

Remember a while back, when those Chilean Miners were stuck in that mine for 69 days?  They were trapped in August and once the rescue operation got underway, it was reported that they hoped to have them out by Christmas.  Trevor and I were watching the news and when I heard that information, the not getting them out for 4 months, I said "they should just pump gas down there and put them out of their misery".

I'm the one who wouldn't want to be kept alive on life support, the one who sees soldiers coming home from war with no limbs or brain injuries and thinks "everyone would have been better off if he had died".   I see things that people go through and can't stop myself from feeling like I would rather die than live like that.  I admit, I'm not the hopeful one.  I believe that if I had a flesh eating disease and they had to take my hands and legs, I'd say "just let it kill me instead".

So its ironic that I fight so hard for Asha's life to be seen as one of value.  When people say "what do you do with a blind and deaf dog?" or "wouldn't it be more kind to have put her down?", I get angry.  I want the world to see that just because she is blind and deaf doesn't mean that her life can't be amazing.  It doesn't mean that she can't be happy, feel joy and love.  I live with this dog every day and let me tell you, she loves to be alive. She does not care about the things she is missing. Her life is full and she makes use of every second.

Just this morning, I watched her in the backyard. We have a willow tree in the corner of the yard. She was standing under it and the branches were brushing against her face.  All of a sudden, she took off at a dead sprint towards the deck.  She ran with total abandon...her body was so alive, her ears flapped in the wind, the smile on her face was huge.  She got to the deck and stopped.  Then she turned around, walked back out to the willow tree, felt the branches on her face and did it all again.   Seeing and hearing?  Who needs that....not our girl, she's doing just fine without it.

Its funny how the Universe gives us lessons.  I love when I realize that I am learning something, changing how I see the world.  Finding the purpose in Asha's life allows me to see purpose in so many other things that I previously dismissed.  It has allowed me to feel a sense of purpose in my own life that I've never felt before.

So I'll be more kind when people wonder what kind of life a dog like Asha could have, I'll understand that I don't know other people's circumstances and that just because they don't experience the world in a way that I can understand, their life still has value.  We all have value.  This face has taught me that.