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LIFE
How Not to Torture a Dog
Animal cruelty is a predictor of current and future violence
I do it myself, so I know. In movies and in real life, when there is a disaster or threat of some kind, we always seem most relieved when we know the dog is safe.
The people be damned, so long as the dogs are safe.
In the world exists a cruel underbelly of secrets. Sometimes those abused in silence go on to suffer it silently, sometimes they do not.
I won’t give details so it won’t stay in your mind like mine.
You work with kids in foster care, you work with people in therapy, you hear everything. You hear every detail and you wish you did not, but you do because you need to bear their pain, you need to absorb it because it liberates them, however minutely, briefly, they are no longer alone with their silent pain.
You absorb it, but it still enrages you, that so much suffering is needless and yet persists, that maybe we just don’t care enough.
A child freezes to death in a garage steps away from the warmth of his house. A teenager endures her stepfather climbing on top of her night after night. Still, she is quiet because she has learned the world favors the abuser, embraces the abuser, votes for the abuser, rewards…
