This morning I woke up to a loud, piteous wailing. I rushed to the window to see that a man was beating up a dog in the parking lot of our apartment complex. I went running to the spot. The ochre body of the dog was stained red with blood. He was limping by his left hind limb. Furious by the man’s conduct, I pushed him aside and picked up Po, the neighborhood’s adopted watch dog. I wanted to sue the man. But I decided to control my fury and carry Po to the nearest NGO that worked for animal rights.
A tall, slender man with wheatish complexion emerged from his office. Without wasting a moment, he took Po from my arms and carried him to the in-house treatment centre. He himself turned out to be the vet. He worked with rapt attention – it seemed the world around him was non-existent, other than his patient. His hazel eyes was full of compassion, care and warmth.
Only after he could successfully relieve Po of his pain, did the vet speak to me. “What had happened? Did he meet with an accident?”, he asked. “No, he was beaten up by one of the residents of our apartment complex. Po, here, happens to be the watch-dog of the complex. Do you know why? Just because the poor soul had peed on his car tyres.” I replied, irritated on reminiscing the recent. “That’s the problem with us humans. We’ve become so self-centered that we think of no one except ourselves. This man needs to be punished.” “But will the police even lodge an FIR for beating a dog?” “They may not pay heed to us but they will have to pay heed to the Central Animal Welfare Organisation”.
He immediately made a complaint to the organisation and within a week, appropriate action was taken. The other residents who had witnessed the event and I gave our statements against the guilty and he was made to pay 250$ penalty to the organisation and 150$ to the NGO as a payment for Po’s treatment.
Yes, among us narcissist humans there do exist compassionate, selfless beings who know how to love and care for nature’s gifts like the animals who too like us are the residents of the Earth.
