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The GoodLetter Thursday, July 25, 2002
GoodThings, Inc. :: Stories, actions, ideas, and greeting cards that connect us.
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In this week's issue:
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| :: Favorite GoodThings |
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From Melania Pomante of Italy |
| :: This Week's Feature |
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Dogs and the People Who Need Them - by George Watson |
| :: Card of the Week |
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Stamp Connecting -- GoodThings Greeting Cards on sale now! |
| :: 2001 Spotlight |
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Favorite Social Good for Animals: The Elephant Sanctuary
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| :: Good Gravy |
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Music: Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer's When I Go
Book: Jon Katz' A Dog Year: Twelve Months, Four Dogs, and Me
Film: PBS' The First Year |
| :: The Upshot |
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A reader wants you to help support Argentina's homeless |
| :: Housekeeping |
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Subscribe/unsubscribe
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Greeting Card of the Week
Stamp Connecting: Unleash Your Inner Dog
Whether we're running on the beach or lying in the grass, there's a dog in all of us. If you're a dog lover, this card has your name written all over it, but even if you only appreciate the spirit of a happy dog or care about animal welfare, there's someone in your life who deserves this card. Buy just one pack of 8 greeting cards for only $12.50 or a few single cards for $2.50 each (plus shipping/handling) and help make it possible for us to continue promoting positive and constructive organizations, ideas, and people. We can't do it without you. Don't forget: you can also choose from all our cards to create a variety pack of all your favorites!
(We print all our cards on recycled paper using soy ink.)
Would your non-profit organization or progressive company like to use customized GoodThings Greeting Cards for your holiday or membership correspondence or for fundraising? Send an e-mail to cards@goodthings.com and ask us about our card customization program!
Please visit our online store today
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Click the card to see it enlarged or to order
Text on stamp:
Humane Treatment of Animals
Inside: unleash your inner dog
(friendship, humor) |
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This Week's Feature
Dogs and the People Who Need Them
by George Watson
People need people, but dogs need people more. There's nothing quite like a dog to illustrate the value of relationships and the importance of taking responsibility for the things that matter.
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Dear GoodLetter readers,
The silence on the other end of the phone said it all.
Finally, my father's voice, a sound of reason for my then 19 years of life, began to speak.
"George, I don't think this is a very good idea."
He continued. I should not have adopted the Golden retriever puppy who was, at the time, snuggled up asleep across my feet. Nineteen-year-old college sophomores who have just joined a fraternity and teetered on expulsion from lack of studies don't need another distraction. It's not wise, and it's not fair to the dog.
His logic, as always, was impeccable. But this time, something was different. He ended up being wrong.
Something changed in me when Jumpin' Jack Jasper bounded into my life. I won't lie and say I suddenly woke up with a sense of responsibility suddenly enveloping my every breath. Nothing comes that easily.
I had grown up in two middle-class homes where I was showered with love but, because of my parents' divorce, had almost no responsibilities. No one expected me to do much more than take of myself. I was not needed by anyone.
Jasper whimpered through that first night. For the first few hours, I wondered whether I had erred. Was my father right?
Sometime before the sun rose, I realized something. This little ball of fur needs me. I told myself, "Watson, you gotta get it together."
Feeding, exercise, training. These were my chores, and those were his needs I had to fulfill. There was more. My days of last-second trips were over. I had to make sure Jasper was welcome, too. And while he didn't say much, he took part in every conversation about our future life together.
How close was the nearest park to any potential apartments? Did the neighbors mind dogs? Did they have any unfriendly animals of their own?
As Jasper aged, my concern became wondering if a potential home had too many stairs for him to climb. Was there an elevator?
I must say, it really is something to be needed. And as Jasper taught me his lessons of life, I learned volumes about myself. I liked to help others. I gained a special satisfaction from helping those who couldn't help themselves.
I didn't become a reporter because of Jasper, but he's one reason why I have stuck with it for a dozen years and will likely continue for decades to come.
Jasper passed away a year ago, succumbing to a rapidly spreading cancer that turned my powerful and noble friend, for years the one consistent part of my life, into a frail, trembling shell of his former self.
When the time came for a vet to help him reach his personal ending, he looked up at me one last time from the floor where I crouched beside him. His beautiful brown eyes perked up for me and then closed forever. I had never cried -- make that blubbered -- for anyone like I did for Jasper.
I thought to myself, "I wish I had done more. I should have given him more brushings or the massages that he liked so much in his older years."
It was a final lesson. While it sounds clichéd, I decided to drink in all that life offered, especially in friendship and personal relationships.
The reality of his final lesson revisited me just this past weekend. My boss, a true pillar of journalism named Lawrence Young, died at the age of 47 on Saturday of an apparent heart attack. He was my biggest advocate and as I have learned in recent days, a mentor for legions of other journalists around the country.
It's how I can stomach Lawrence's death. He was always teaching, always pushing me for more. I gobbled up his lessons, which he offered up over afternoon sessions in his office. Certainly, I wanted more from him, and of course, I never expected him to die so soon. My tears told me that.
But however brief the time, Lawrence was there to touch my soul and fill my mind. I can only be glad I was so fortunate to have listened and learned as often as I did.
:: George Watson
George is a reporter for The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California. He lives in southern California with his wife, his 21-month-old son, and two Golden retrievers.
(Thoughts on George's GoodLetter? Inspired by what you've read? E-mail us -- don't forget to tell us your name, where you're from, and if we can use your words in a future GoodLetter or on our Web site.)
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Favorite GoodThings 2001 Spotlight
Every other week, we use this space to remind you about the extraordinary work of one of our Favorite GoodThings 2001 campaign honorees. The profiles of our honorees -- a wealth of ideas, actions, and organizations for a better world -- have a special home on our Web site. Check them out and be sure to let us know what you think.
This week, in keeping with this week's GoodLetter about the symbiotic relationship between people and animals, we're happy to feature our "Favorite Social Good for Animals" for 2001:
The Elephant Sanctuary
Tennessee might not be the first place you think of when you think of elephants, but it is here, in the land of country music, that the giant pachyderms are finding refuge. The Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald, founded in 1995, is the nation's first natural habitat refuge created specifically for endangered Asian elephants. It sits on 800 acres of green pastures and old growth forests, 65 miles outside Nashville, and is a haven for old sick or needy elephants. These highly social and intelligent creatures face a major crisis in their native lands of India and Asia, where they are threatened with poaching and loss of habitat due to human encroachment. In addition to being a safe haven, the Elephant Sanctuary is an educational center where people can learn more about these lovable animals, the issues they face, and how to get involved or volunteer to help them.
:: Learn more about the Elephant Sanctuary.
We love to hear from you about anything: ideas or situations that are inspiring you or challenging you to think, as well as organizations, programs, and people that contribute to your community and the world everyday. Please drop us a line.
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The Upshot
The past two weeks, we've featured GoodLetters on two different efforts to confront the issue of homelessness in the United States. But homelessness is a global concern, and Connie Eastman -- a reader from Argentina -- wants you to help her do something positive about it:
Dear GoodThings,
One of the good things about living in Argentina (and I suppose any other place in the world!) is the number of things that are waiting to be done! I was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina and love this country and its people. A lot of good things are being done here to help others and I am involved in a very special project with a group called FUSEDIM, which is building a second home for mentally handicapped homeless men about 70 kilometers from Buenos Aires. We are looking for donors from anywhere in the world to finish construction of this home, which is already about 60% complete and needs just an extra effort. Our foundation was created in 1986 and we already have a workshop where 27 men work from Mondays to Fridays making plastic bags, brooms, and candles, which we sell to keep the work going. Some of them have been with us for more than 14 years! Also, we have built a first home in the country where 17 men homeless men live all the year round, are looked after, fed and most important of all, given work to do such as gardening, milking the few cows we have, making brooms, feeding the farm animals, etc.
If any group or individual who would like to help us finish the construction of this new home which will house 35 mentally disabled men in excellent conditions, please let me know and I will email you the necessary information, photos, figures. Thank you for your good newsletter which cheers up my day!
Saludos,
Connie Eastman
Interested in connecting with Connie and lending a hand in Argentina? Send an e-mail request to us editor@goodthings.com with "FUSEDIM" in the subject line and a brief message describing your interest. We'll help you get involved!
Missed our last two GoodLetters on the fight against homelessness? Read them now:
Means To A Better End
That Human Touch
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Good Gravy
Music, Books, Films, and Radio
Please click through to our Web site to see what we're reading, watching, and listening to and, while you're at it, let us know what we're missing.
Great Music!
When I Go Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer (2002)
The world of urban folk music tragically lost one of its most critically acclaimed artists in Dave Carter late last week. The re-release of Carter's first album with Tracy Grammer this past spring offers partial consolation. Read the review.
Great Book!
A Dog Year: Twelve Months, Four Dogs, and Me Jon Katz (2002)
Like GoodLetter contributor George Watson, Jon Katz had no idea what he was getting into when he adopted his dog, but the results were wonderful. Read the review.
Great Movie Rental!
The First Year (2002)
Conventional wisdom has it that public education has irreparably decayed. But this new, award-winning documentary about five young teachers in the Los Angeles school system reveals energy, commitment, and hope. Read the review.
GoodThings on Public Radio
Have you been checking out GoodThings on Public Radio? Here are some of our favorite public radio pieces this week (follow the link below to the full summaries on our Web site):
:: A Majestic Tribute -- If the measure of a true mentor is how much people miss you when you're gone, Jerry Melton must have been the ultimate.
:: Famine's Memory -- As New York City takes first steps in planning a September 11 tribute, the new Irish Hunger Memorial Park is unveiled in lower Manhattan.
:: "Responsible" Theater -- And meanwhile, uptown in Harlem, a new musical celebrating the neighborhood's rich cultural history and its vibrant Jazz Age opens in the Apollo Theatre.
:: Alan Lomax, World Citizen -- Without Alan Lomax to record them, Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly may have been only footnotes in music history, as might have scores of other artists from around the world.
:: California's Green Machines -- If the skies above California are clear by 2009, it will likely be because the state's full of alternatively fueled automobiles.
:: Inching Toward Democracy -- The United Nations Development Programme is celebrating the fact that 81 countries have moved toward democracy in the last 20 years but admits that the work has only just begun.
:: Reverse Diaspora -- Afghan Americans are returning to the birthplace of their parents and grandparents to ensure long-term sustainable development in the wake of years of civil war.
Visit our site to read full summaries of these stories and listen to your favorites.
Talk to us:
What's the best public radio story you've heard this week?
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