Always Remember the Love

Someone recently asked me why I "followed" the Philadelphia Eagles (I put followed in quotation marks because I barely understand football but like the Eagles because my awesome step dad and step sisters love them and they are a seminal part of my adopted home town, that's all) when I am an animal lover and Michael Vick (the notorious NFL-playing, dog-fighter) is their much-prized quarterback. I struggled with how to respond to this question because I have gone through a major evolution in how I express and act on my "more-than-human" love for animals.

I know you may think the Michael Vick/dog fighting story has been run into the ground, but here is my take on the situation:

Unfortunately, working for PETA, even for a short time, I started to feel very hostile towards anyone who hurts animals (or eats animals, or wears animals, or...). Not that, that is a bad thing. It was just that the anger distracted me from what I love, the animals. It has taken me some time to realize that I should be directing my passion towards what matters. In the case of Michael Vick, that is that (a) he did get caught and his being such a high-profile person has brought the issue of dogfighting to a national level of awareness, and (b) many of the sweet animals got rescued and are either living in Best Friends Animal Sanctuary's Dog Town or have been rehabilitated enough to be adopted out.

My heart will always be with those dogs who died under Michael Vick's cruel watch or had to be euthanized due to their abuse. But, I have chosen to honor them by directing my energy towards loving animals instead of hating Michael Vick.

And that is what I told them. I feel so much better now. I am actually inspired to honor the Vicktory dogs further by painting some of their portraits (I do dog portraits, see earlier posts) and selling them at the Trenton Avenue Arts Festival and sending some of the proceeds to Best Friends Animal Sanctuary.

Always remember the love <3