Do Unto Others…?

Do Unto Others…?

An animal activist friend posted the image on Facebook:

a German Shepherd – the most magnificent of creatures – in a cage,

cringing in fear of being hit again,

howling, when the hand of the rescuer came near,

afraid of being abused again.

Such an abominable image.

I quickly deleted it – but could not from my mind.

It stays with  me months later.

How a man – or woman – ceases to be a human being –

as a person, (let alone a sentient “lower-species-being”)

who tortures or is being tortured.

All thoughts of forgiveness flee,

and only revenge remains,

for the creature doing the torture

and the creature receiving it.

And so I better understand, but cannot imagine

“Father forgive them for they know not what they do.”

At this moment, it is impossible for me.

When I see a POTUS

whipping the airways for a demonstration of power –

a march to show who is Boss

to those with the malevolent hand AND to those receiving the blows,

any notion of forgiveness is obliterated.