I'm sitting here with tears in my eyes. They are both tears of sadness and of pride.
A few minutes ago, my sweet Sam came out of my bedroom where he had been snuggled up, watching a cartoon before bed. He came out to the living room where his daddy & I were, with tears in his eyes and on his cheeks. Apparently, the ASPCA commercial with Sarah McLachlan had come on. And it broke my tender-hearted son's tender little heart. He sobbed in my arms for several minutes, pleading repeatedly that "I want to call that number!"
A few minutes ago, my sweet Sam came out of my bedroom where he had been snuggled up, watching a cartoon before bed. He came out to the living room where his daddy & I were, with tears in his eyes and on his cheeks. Apparently, the ASPCA commercial with Sarah McLachlan had come on. And it broke my tender-hearted son's tender little heart. He sobbed in my arms for several minutes, pleading repeatedly that "I want to call that number!"
I cry because I am so proud of his sweet little heart, and that he has the ability to sympathize with creatures smaller than himself. That he recognizes unfairness and cruelty. And I cry because he's been shown some of the ugliness in our world and that a small piece of his innocence and naivety is gone, and that makes me sad.
I struggle to comprehend cruelty in general, but animal cruelty whips my emotions up to a whole new level. I've had pets my entire life, with the exception of about 18 months, and I don't see that changing anytime soon. And they are not merely animals that live in my house - they are furry family members and are treated and loved as such. So how am I to explain to a five and a half year old little boy why some animals are abused, or starved, or dumped, or killed when I don't understand it myself??
So I simply held him, let him cry, and did my best to reassure him that lots of people work very hard to try to protect animals, to care for them, to find them homes and good shelters, and that we would do what we could to help, and say our prayers that God would watch over them all.
It is SO hard sometimes, being the mama.
6 comments:
OH, that is hard. We are members of The Great Pyrenees Rescue in Texas and all of our animals have been "rescued" except JoJo, who was born in our house.
It is hard to let their innocence leave them, but even harder to know how "much" to tell them.
Sweet momma, it sounds like you did well. :)
What a sweet little boy you have!
That was so touching! There is nothing sweeter than a tenderhearted little boy. I know those with little girls can scoff at that but there is just something so pure about a tenderhearted little boy. Maybe I'm just partial because I have two!
Have a great weekend.
Awww...sweet boy. That empathy for others is something lots of people strive to teach their kids - be proud you've already done it so early!
My daughter and your son would get along so well. She is so caring, especially when it comes to animals. We just lost a dog a few weeks ago and it was hard to lose him, but so much harder to see my daughter's pain as she dealt with it.
So guess who came out of my bedroom sobbing tonight? Guess what commercial came on? She wants to "please save an animal". "oh mommy" "I need to help a kitty, nooowwww" Sobbing, gut wrenching sobbing. Made me think of Sam-0.
Of course Natalie sobbed as we left Costco home today because we had to leave behind the pink stroller with hearts and flowers one it (they loan out strollers).
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