Love Unconditionally

Though I do not have a pet at home, I know how people love them, and look after them with the best food and medicine. Yet, have you ever thought of the plight of cats and dogs neglected and abandoned in temples, roads, bus stops and various other places? Sometimes, we do not have much time to think of them, since most of us are extremely busy with our mundane duties and responsibilities.

Last week one busy morning, I was stuck in a fairly crowded junction due to heavy traffic, and suddenly I perceived an extremely tragic and touching incident on one side of the road closer to the pavement. An abandoned dog had been severely wounded due to a road accident, but it was still alive and breathing painfully. As usual, the person who was responsible for the accident had already disappeared, but there was a smartly dressed young boy beside the dog, giving it some water which the dog sipped it greedily. Unfortunately, that might be the last drop of water it enjoyed. It was really a rare sight for me, honestly I have not seen such a mournful and heartbreaking situation before.

Still, the incident torments me. Specifically, apart from that boy, none of the pedestrians paid attention to that dog. Is it because the victim is not a human but an animal or merely because of their hectic schedules and the dog is not theirs? However, I have to be satisfied and optimistic because at least there was one human being with a kind heart.

The most agonizing feeling that still exists in my mind is why we really discriminate animals, particularly animals who are commonly labeled as ‘stray’? No road rules exists to protect them, no one cares and above all we do not think that they feel the same pain and they possess the same feelings as humans. Insensibly we use the common term ‘stray dogs and cats’, but we forget that it is us-humans- who make them stray by ignoring and displacing them.

Whenever I hear the term ‘unconditional love,’ image of the boy whom I mentioned earlier comes to my mind. Unconditional love is something you bestow without intending to have anything in return. It is something boundless, selfless and noble. It does not matter whether it is a human being or an abandoned dog…let’s try to love unconditionally!

Photograph by K. A. Sandunika Hasangani