Injustice…

Injustice – it can display itself in many ways. Some we read about, some we witness, and that’s what I want to talk about today. The injustice that is weighing heavy on my heart is how some people treat their dogs…as was witnessed recently at the campground I took two of my granddaughters to for a vacation. Imagine you’ve woken from a nice afternoon nap, my granddaughters are in the cabin reading (new generation who prefer to rest inside)…anyhow, a new neighbor has arrived and backed the vehicle up to unload their belongings for their stay. I currently have my camp chair turned in their direction so I can stretch my previously injured (two years ago) knee out on the porch. Two ladies, oblivious to my watchful eye get out of the car. One gal takes the little hip hugging child and one about two, maybe three, to the cabin. The other gal opens the back hatch of the vehicle and within ten seconds slaps one of the dogs across his face…twice. This particular dog is a black lab, while the other is an older white longhaired breed of which I don’t know. She has both of them on a leash and pulls them out of the car, only to immediately yank on the leashes and smack the black one telling him to sit. Both of these dogs are not trying to leave, they are not rambunctious or in any way trying to escape, yet she yanks on the leashes regardless. When the black dog doesn’t sit, she first smacks him in the head and then kicks him in the stomach hard enough to cause him to yelp in pain. She gets him to sit at this point and within a few seconds yanks on both of the leashes as she attempts to unload items from the back of the vehicle and when this causes the black dog to get up, she immediately uses her foot to try and push his butt back down. At this point, I am on my feet making it clear, without having to say a word, that I am watching. She takes both dogs to the porch railing and hooks them up…no wiggle room there, barely enough leash to sit comfortably let alone lay down.

I was upset and went into the cabin and broke down. My granddaughters needed an explanation for my tears…and I cried more. You are probably thinking, why didn’t she just go over there and stop the abuser. Well, here is my reasoning – I’m here with two precious babies and if this woman turns out to be a nut case I could find a gun to my head or find us helplessly trapped in a burning cabin. Any scenario I can imagine does not give me warm and cozy feeling when I have the safety of two other lives in the balance. I thought about reporting them to the ranger service, but didn’t know what they would do, and again retaliation is foremost in my thoughts. So, when my husband called, I took my phone in the cabin and again broke down into tears telling him what happened. He suggested I go ahead with talking to the ranger and get a number I can call to report the incident. I did just that, doing my best not to shed tears in front of the ranger. He wasn’t happy about what I was telling him and assured me he would get a number I could call.

So, here I sit by my campfire, listening to one of the dogs (owners put them in the cabin before leaving for somewhere) bark, whine, and cry…possibly for dinner. I hope the ranger helps me out. If not, when I get back home I will file a report with someone. I obtained their vehicle plate number and with the cabin/campsite information; hopefully, they will figure out who it is that is guilty of this crime. Once I know my granddaughters are safe, then I won’t be afraid to do the right thing.

It hurts me so bad to see people abuse a child or pet that trusts them to care for them. Whether a parent, owner or whoever is in control of caring for another should be held accountable for their actions. The famous saying of “do unto others as you would have others do unto them”…so be it. There is so much ugly stuff in the media…be it candidate bashing, shootings, murder, and rape, bombings and the like, we should all realize that love goes a long way to fixing this world…and it starts at home.