Tango's Story

Written by the adopter: If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain; If I can ease one life the aching, Or cool one pain, Or help one fainting robin Unto his nest again, I shall not live in vain. --Emily Dickinson From my first ever reading of this Dickinson poem, it spoke to my heart. The simple language of the verse paints an eloquent portrait of empathy and compassion. It champions kindness--a wonderful prescription by which to live. In April, I learned about the plight of a young Rhodesian Ridgeback male in rescue. The photos on the rescue website showed the eyes of a broken heart. This little creature had a horrible start to life for nearly 11 months. When I read about his story and looked into his eyes, his sorrow broke my heart. A young puppy should be about joy and carefree play. He should be smothered in love and care and training, and yet this little one unfortunately had none of what he deserved. He was left outside with little shelter and without much human interaction. He was fed and given water only intermittently. He entered rescue severely underweight and malnourished. Why would someone treat an animal this way? From deep within my soul, a loud and unwavering voice spoke in unyielding, commanding tones, "You must rescue this boy. You can help him grow and heal. You can make a world of difference in the life of this little one." The voice was relentless, and as my rational mind tried to convince my sensitive soul of reasons not to consider adoption, the voice grew louder and louder. In May, I reached out to the rescue group and learned the details of the puppy's sad story. He was being fostered only 30 miles away, so I began weekly visits with Paul and Zuri to meet this little one and to work with him so that we could bring him home. I listened to the loud, unwavering voice from within, and yesterday was adoption day. We brought this timid boy home to begin his new journey with us. He has a confident big sister in Zuri and two loving people to teach him, to comfort him, and to love him. I am not sure why this boy's eyes spoke to me in such an unyielding way, but I am glad that I answered the call to be the type of person that Emily Dickinson wrote about in her poem. Our work begins now, and he might well become my finest masterpiece, one painted with empathy and compassion and patience, love and kindness! We have named him Kendi, Swahili for "The Loved One."