Going Beyond Thought to Awareness
About twenty years ago a dog named Tasha who had been a member of our household/family for thirteen years had begun a downhill trajectory with her health. A nerve in her spinal column had been damaged earlier in her life and she was losing more and more use of her rear legs with each passing day. It was heartbreaking to see her dragging both of her rear legs behind her and scraping her skin until it bled, still wanting to help me chase deer away from our vegetable garden. But she never complained. We discussed whether we should have a vet friend come out and euthanize her while we sat next to her and stroked her. We talked and thought about this a lot. We didn’t want her to suffer but who were we to decide to end her life. There were many reasons and justifications on both sides of this issue and...
