Panda Saves Two Border Collies!

Thanksgiving is something I hear about a lot. I haven’t been in Canada for many years for our Thanksgiving there which lands in October and I don’t have family here to celebrate with so I basically don’t do anything with the day. Today is a first for me to have my birthday fall on any Thanksgiving. I’m sure it’s met up with past American dates, but I wasn’t here then. So, that is pretty cool.

I think I may hold the world’s record for most birthday wishes; thank you ever so much! It was my friend Phil who promised me that one day I have more than just him as a friend. I pouted and said I wasn’t very hopeful and was perfectly fine with his friendship. I did express to him all the times in my life where someone would leave or die and I would be alone again. He promised that wouldn’t be my life and he was right. I feel extremely loved by many people. It was hard at the time to think about even leaving my bed far less meet anyone else.

Back to Thanksgiving; what am I thankful for? Friends. Of course I am thankful for my family, but friends choose to have me in their life and this is the best part of friendship. I am thankful for my relationship with the Creator and for the journey I have been on because I feel like as I get older, I am becoming more content with life and the struggles aren’t making me resist, but I have found the wave to ride. Life isn’t perfect, but my attitude has been marinating. ;)

I have a feel good story to share. Yesterday, 2 Border Collies at a Manhattan Shelter were saved from their Death Row. There are many stories like this where dogs find their forever homes and so many owners who have given them a new ‘leash’ on life as the saying goes. I was touched by the efforts of the people involved though in this particular case and I will tell you why.

I found it was a focused effort by compassionate people. I witnessed a huge thread on FB of people coming together to make it happen. One person in particular who you guys might know; Anja (she has the Border Collie named Panda (There is a picture of Panda with her signed Stever CD on my myspace page…she’s fantastic) Anja didn’t forward the entire list of dogs who were going to be euthanized that day. As a Border Collie owner she focused her attention on the same breed. She will tell you she wasn’t responsible for making it happen, but the same mentality of focusing the energy works. She asked me to forward the stories to people I knew. I decided instead of forwarding it to the whole list, I would send it to people I knew in NY. The idea is to target the audience you want to reach. This is good for obvious reasons, but I believe it does one thing. It stops people from becoming desensitized.

People know Anja and her dog Panda the Border Collie, therefore she can speak with a certain amount of authority when she talks about the welfare of Border Collies. I’ve been following Panda’s story and pictures for a long time now. (Poster Pup, perhaps?) People who feel connected to her and Panda will listen to her. I did! Then, I felt strongly that she knew what she was talking about, so I forwarded the two dogs to the appropriate New York people I knew. I didn’t make it happen, a lady came forward on FB and took the one dog and someone else was able to at least get the second dog out of the no-kill zone and to an intermediate place. Both dogs were supposed to be destroyed yesterday and they are both safe.

This whole thing is an example of how people can make things happen by focusing their energy and talking about topics they are an authority on. It is the best way to effectively make change happen. I find too many issues today are a melting pot designed to be fed to desensitized people and it’s not working.
Anja made a bunch of really good connections yesterday and feels a new calling in her life and THAT is the best part of what happened as far as I am concerned.

Each of us has our own thing we are either passionate about or an authority on. I really would encourage you that if you want to make a difference, to focus your energy on what you know, what you are called to do and what you are good at because in that you too could feel the overwhelming enlightenment that Anja feels today after finding her calling in life. She woke up today I am sure with a sense of purpose and value.

Too many people try to chase a big dream they saw on TV and aren’t good at it, don’t feel connected to it and don’t connect with an audience because the audience doesn’t see them as knowing anything about the topic they are ‘trying out’. Do you remember me doing a blog a long time ago about a woman who baked her way out of foreclosure? She was good at making pies, so she started selling them. Now she’s gone on to save her house and is growing a healthy business. She took what she was good at, what she loved to do and what she was an authority on and she has found her calling by being able to inspire and share her story!

I believe each of us should look for the joy in our life, the thing we know a lot about and the gifts we have and channel them towards the greater good, not the greater bank account, the greater good.

Wondering if the name Panda helps the cause, after all, the news seems to love sharing Panda stories,

Karen :)

If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.” ~Dalai Lama