Foley's Blog4Peace

 

    

On Tuesday, September 11, 2001, while the world reeled, I was a one-year-old dog who slept the day away in a crate next to an identical one where Blake the Shih Tzu, my mentor, waited for our parents to come home, blissfully unaware

When they arrived Blake and I, tuned into our parents emotions, knew something was very wrong, but we did not know what. Our Dad put us in the front seat of the car and took us across the street to walk at the State Hospital. On the

short ride I asked Blake what to do: “Just be a dog,”

My Dad parked in an auxiliary lot and let us out by a large, deep green lawn, The sun had begun to set over the trees, turning the sky orange. Blake and I got out of the car and ran through the grass with wagging tails and big smiles. In that moment everything else briefly faded, and our dad felt a moment of peace on the most violent of days. 

When he got home my Dad told my Mom, and she said it was because the soul of animals is where peace is found.

It would be proven true a month later when  Blake went to the Bridge and as my parents sat mourning him I got behind them and [et my paws into their back comforting them both.

From then on, whenever they were under stress, and needed some peace, the looked to me, or Pocket, River Song and now Ruby.

The best part of us being the givers of peace is that it takes no effort.

We can even do it in our sleep. Our soft breaths (or in Ruby’s case: loud snores) and the gentle rising of our chests, instantly brings comfort. It is literally a job we can do in our sleep.

We can tell when our parents are anxious, their scent changes. We go to them and let them rub our ears, and pet us. When animals smell that scent we are able to change ours to bring out parents a little peace. It is why our parents bury their heads in our fur.

Or they just watch us playing with a toy, or chewing a bone, to hold off the war and violence of life in the world.

And when we are gone they lose their greatest defense.

But, there is always another pet to fill that role.

It is why we are here.