For Some People Pets are the Only Thing Keeping Them Sane

If you listen to Buddhists teachers they all have a different take on how to accomplish the same goal but they all agree that the greatest teachers of meditation are animals.  All of them.  Each animal rests in being.  Animals go through each day in the wild not knowing where their next meal will come from or thinking past the present moment because they can't. It takes higher intelligence to measure time or find a way to worry about the future.

In the end of life we all can look back and be proud or be disappointed.  So many struggles along the way can cause some to give up or give in to life and merely try to exist.  I met a older military vet in VT.   He was parked at a convenient store, his car had military vet stickers all over it.  The car was rusty, inside it looked like a dump, and there in the passenger seat next to the driver was a filthy, long hair matted, little dog.  I thought, another vet homeless, that does not need to be if he will go for help.  I knocked on his window and asked if I could sit in the back seat to speak with him for a minute?  He said, "Yes."

I dropped in the back seat and spoke to him about his circumstances.  Long story short I got his number, he had a phone but no home.  I hooked him up with VA services.  Turns out he was a vet, but had a criminal record, he was a drug addict, and was on parole waiting trial for dealing drugs.  The VA wants to help him but cannot unless he keeps himself out of criminal behaviors.  He said VA wanted to put him in a shelter but he had to give up his dog. He said the one thing he could never do was give up his dog.  That poor dog was so depressed and in need of TLC that I would have thought he would have given him to a no kill shelter to help the dog get the food and care the dog needed but if he could not help himself why would he make a "sane decision" to help his dog?  The thing about an addict is the addict is caught up in selfish thoughts. The mind is closed to new information that can cause positive change.  An addict is self-serving, self-abusing, self-loathing, and can only be helped by helping himself.  According to this Veteran this dog was the only friend in the world the addict had.

Buddhists teach we can learn present moment and meditation from watching animals.  This morning I was sitting watching the sun rise and my cat sat at the window staring out.  I watched the cat as I tried to stay focused and relax to mediate.  The cat could sit quietly and just look without motion.  I sat quietly and focused on the sunrise without thoughts arising. I thought later about how much affection that cat gives me, the many times that cat sits in my lap and purrs reminding me to slow down and enjoy the soft fur of his coat. I realize that I was happy that military veteran had that dog and sent a prayer that both would be OK.  That is all I can do. 

Pets may be here to keep us sane with their innocent affectionate existence, that is another gift from above when we have no one.  Truth is petting an animal may be the only meditation many people will ever practice.  Thank goodness for this bit of sanity, pets.