One Old Green Bus

Post details: A life gone ...

09/26/06

11:02:29 am, by

, 549 words

Categories: From The Desk of Sue

A life gone ...

Today our daughter, Max (our dog) and myself watched as a life was extinguished.....and I am still very sad and angry...

As we walked to school this morning we came across a small grey cat (much resembling our own dearest Elizabeth) dying on the sidewalk where he/she had been placed after obviously being hit by a car. Max began whimpering as he was sensing something was terribly wrong ... and as I fumbled with my cell phone attempting to call our local animal services...the little grey cat died.....

A life gone...

I have held the hands of others who have died in my presence...but this felt so very cold...so awful...and so unnecessary...

People kept walking past us...on their way to work or school...seemingly oblivious with the exception of those who gawked and walked on. And where was the driver of the car or the person who obviously put the cat on a piece of cardboard soaking in bodily fluid on the sidewalk? Not even a few minutes to spare to call the animal services?

Matthew in a weird twist of fate walked the opposite way from where he normally goes to catch his ride to work and met us walking towards home. We were visibly shaken...and thank goodness he was there to offer hugs...before leaving for his day at the office...who knows maybe he sensed something wasn't right this morning with us...and those hugs were most welcome.

When we arrived back home I immediately sought out our three girls...Mary, Elizabeth, and Annie...(all three rescues from our local shelter) and cuddled each...comforted in the knowledge that at least they were safe, warm, and most importantly loved....

Hours later my heart is still sore for the little life that we watched expire... Who was he/she? Is someone missing her? Why was she running in the streets for such an awful thing to happen? Is his owner even aware that he is gone? Perhaps he escaped or snuck out? And a human heart will be breaking for this lost life soonly.....

But I see it all the time...cats and kittens running loose on our city streets....just last week we came across a female cat in obvious heat rolling around on a front lawn...what for??? To risk adding to the unwanted cat population, of which our local shelter is filled to capacity!

Human irresponsibility makes me very angry...particularly when it costs the life of those who are dependant on us to take care of them.

We live in an urban area and our three girls are strictly indoors, they will not be hit by cars, attacked by predators, come into contact with poisons, subjected to fleas or all other manner of potentially life threatening predicaments from running wild outdoors.

If you do own a cat and let it outside unsupervised please be aware that you risk his/her life greatly and that premature death in outdoor cats is excessively high in comparison to indoor animals.

All three of our girls and Max are sitting with me as I type this (unusual for this time of day) .... perhaps they know that Mommy needs them close right now as I contemplate human stupidity and seemingly heartlessness.

Permalink 9 comments

Comments:

Comment from: El Charolastra [Visitor] · http://www.el-charulastra.blogspot.com

"human stupidity..."
abounds.

Permalink 09/26/06 @ 13:28

Comment from: MsDemmie [Visitor] · http://lifeattheedge.blogspot.com/

I do despair of what some humans have become.

Have a transatlantic hug .....

Permalink 09/26/06 @ 15:36

Comment from: administration [Member]

· http://www.helpcoverthebus.com/

Thank you El Charolastra and MsDemmie.

(((hugs back)))

A friend wrote to me and pointed this out:

"Maybe the driver didn't realize he/she hit a little cat, especially if driving a larger vehicle like a van or truck. Maybe the other people thought you were the owner and so they didn't need to stop... people are basically decent."

I have been feeling dark lately especially about the apathy in our world ... I needed that reminder.

Permalink 09/26/06 @ 16:13

Comment from: Tricia [Visitor] · http://www.feverishthoughts.com

I live in Toronto too, and there are far too many loose cats around. Every night my backyard is visited by a large orange tabby and often a gray cat, occasionally a black one with one white foot. Last year I had a very nice youngish looking gray striped cat practically live in my backyard all summer. My husband and I are allergic to cats and dogs so we couldn't bring it in. but it was obvious that this one had no owner. I asked all my friends to adopt but none would. Finally a close neighbour took "meow" in.

Permalink 09/26/06 @ 16:45

Comment from: threecollie [Visitor] · http://northviewdiary.blogspot.com/

Sad that you had to start your day like that. Poor kitty. We have an endless stream of unwanted cats dumped here at the farm. Some of them are assimilated into the barn cat brigade and some don't fare as well.
On a lighter note, I love the names of your personal cats....perhaps because my name is Marianne Elizabeth.

Permalink 09/26/06 @ 17:06

Comment from: Keith L. Dick [Visitor] · http://lifetimegamer.blogspot.com

It's sad when anything dies...

Permalink 09/27/06 @ 03:16

Comment from: administration [Member]

· http://www.helpcoverthebus.com/

Keith -> Yes, it is.

ThreeCollie -> I love your name! What a coincidence. Thank you for sharing. I often wonder about these stories of taking unwanted pets to a farm, if the farmer knows of this!

Tricia -> I am happy to hear things worked out for Meow. It is heartbreaking the unwanted cat population in Toronto. Why don't people just fix their pets.

Permalink 09/27/06 @ 10:40

Comment from: Rachel [Visitor]

What a sad start to your day.

I know I would be absolutely devastated if something happened to my two babies Milo and Smudge.

Sending hugs your way.

Permalink 09/28/06 @ 03:32

Comment from: administration [Member]

· http://www.helpcoverthebus.com/

Hi Rachel,

(((hugs received))))

Thank you .. :)

Permalink 09/28/06 @ 09:08

Allow me to start with we do not own nor are we selling a bus. Just had to get that out...

This blog was started in April of 2006... during a very bad time for me and my family when money was very tight and life was very hard.

We maintained a happier outlook on life by fantasizing... talking about what we would do when times were better... and as Sue and myself are Anglophiles, England factored greatly into our "plans".

During these bad times, while looking at news items which, at the time included items about London removing their venerable old Routemasters, I came across one photo of an old green bus... and somehow, my whole family adopted it. It became very much "our bus". (Details about "our bus" are available by clicking here.)

Like most of you, I'd heard about the fellow who'd made a million dollars selling tiny ads online... and the fellow who did trades and turned a paper clip into a house... so I thought, since we couldn't make our bus actually into "our bus" (well beyond our means,) I'd try an "online" appeal... to make the focused item of our hopes into a tangible thing in our lives...

More specifically, in a burst of adult/juvenile optimism, I had hoped to show the youngest member of the family, who at the time was still very youthful and impressionable, that dreams really could become reality if you hope and, more importantly, try.

Well, I'm pretty sure you figured it out... we had limited succes in this venture... and the youngest has now reached an age where she is more traditionally "teenaged" cynical than much else about the world, which isn't a dreadful thing... but there's a "good news" portion to this... our personal situation with money is better, life has improved, and some people really liked my rambling here... so, I decided to keep things going... Yes, I will "give up" on asking for help on a bus... and have to give up on even trying as hard to get the bus through online means... and yes, be far more realistic... but I don't mind this "turn" of things as I actually enjoy venting, trying my hand at humour, and generally keeping on online presence outside my usual things.

Thanks to those who were/are "Busly Dream" enthusiasts... I suppose that our buses for now will be single-deck with the letters "TTC" emblazoned on them... but this blog will live as does our dream! (It's just a little quieter on that latter bit...)

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