riyagohalblog

I can’t watch certain TV shows anymore. Or movies. The second an animal is abused, abandoned or dies, I’m done. I don’t care if it’s an important part of the story or if I’m six seasons into a show. I’ll close my laptop and never go back.

People tell me, “It’s just a movie.”

Maybe it is.

But somewhere in the world, it isn’t.

Somewhere, a dog is tied to a pole. Somewhere, a kitten is abandoned in a cardboard box. Somewhere, an animal is waiting for someone who is never coming back.

And I can’t stop thinking about them.

I have a dog.

Although I hate calling him my pet.

He’s my child.

People might laugh at that sentence. They might say, “He’s just a dog.”

But they’ll never understand.

I didn’t give birth to him in the traditional sense, but my heart did. The love I have for him is unconditional, irrational and overwhelming. He is the purest soul I have ever known. He’d probably trade me for his favourite raggedy toy without thinking twice, and somehow that only makes me love him more.

Ever since he came into my life, I haven’t been able to look at animals the same way.

Every stray dog is somebody’s baby who never found a home.

Every kitten I see makes me wonder whether it’ll survive another week.

Every abandoned animal feels personal.

If a stray dog smiles at me, my heart breaks because I know I can’t take him home.

And that’s the hardest part.

Knowing I can’t save them all.

When it rains, I don’t enjoy the weather anymore.

I think about the dogs sleeping under cars.

I wonder if they’ve found shelter before the storm gets worse.

I hope they’re somewhere dry.

During summer, I wonder if they’ve found water. I hope they aren’t collapsing from the heat. I hope someone, somewhere, left out a bowl of water.

These thoughts never really leave me.

It’s like carrying around a quiet ache that follows me everywhere.

Living in India, I’ve met people who complain when someone feeds stray dogs. They say it attracts more animals. They say it’s unhygienic. They say it’s a nuisance.

I’ve never understood that.

When I look at a stray animal, I don’t see a nuisance.

I see hunger.

I see fear.

I see a life that didn’t choose any of this.

Kindness has never seemed like an inconvenience to me.

Looking away has.

What hurts the most isn’t knowing that cruelty exists.

It’s knowing how common it is.

Animals are abandoned when they become inconvenient. They’re abused because they cannot defend themselves. Shelters become overcrowded. Some healthy animals are euthanized simply because there isn’t enough space or enough people willing to adopt them.

How do you make peace with that?

I don’t think I ever will.

I know I can’t rescue every dog.

I can’t save every cat.

I can’t change the fate of every animal that crosses my path.

But I can refuse to become indifferent.

I can stop to feed a hungry stray.

I can leave water outside during the summer.

I can support shelters.

I can speak up against cruelty.

Maybe it won’t change the whole world.

But it might change one animal’s world.

People often tell me I’m too emotional.

Maybe I am.

Maybe my empathy for animals has gone too far.

But if caring this deeply means my heart hurts a little more, I’ll take that over feeling nothing at all.

Because the world has never suffered from too much compassion.

Only too little.

So if there’s one thing I hope for, it’s not that everyone loves animals exactly the way I do.

I simply hope we become a little gentler.

A little kinder.

A little slower to look away.

Because to us, it may be just a bowl of food.

To them, it could be the reason they survive another day.