They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent. His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.
My dad had a dog, named "Bunk". Don't ask me why the name - we're hillbillies... there ain't no reason. From 1950 to 1952, dad got caught in the draft, and went off to do his bit for King and Country. He was gone for nearly the entire two years of his enlistment, never came home nor even took any leave, so they shaved off the last 30 days, and called that his "leave", when he came home. In those days, no one had cell phones, and in that area, even house phones had not penetrated, so they didn't hear from him for his entire enlistment, other than the occasional letter.
So one morning my grandma was out hanging the laundry or something, and notices Bunk sitting on a rock on a ridge where you could see a couple miles down the road from. Just sitting and watching. She went into the house and told grandpa "that boy's coming home today", which he met with some degree of skepticism. he said "his two years ain't up yet - what makes you think he's coming home?" And grandma told him she'd seen Bunk sitting on the rock and watching for him, which didn't relieve his skepticism at all.
Dad came walking in around 4 that afternoon. No car, no phone, so he walked the few miles from the bus stop.
Bunk met him a mile down the road, at a dead run. I expect they've hit the bridge by now.
Haven't you all heard the story of Rainbow Bridge? YES - our beloved companion animals are there in the afterlife.
If you die before your pet, do you have to wait at the Rainbow Bridge for them?
You know, this is just me thinking, but I figure that if I've got forever left to go, a few years sitting on my fanny waiting ain't going to take that much out of me.
Post by Mystic Wanderer on Dec 15, 2014 17:18:52 GMT -6
@wrabbit2000, I believe they do.
I've felt my departed cat of 16.5 years rub on my legs while sitting at the computer, and one time he jumped on the bed and laid down beside my legs like he used to. This was NOT my imagination! It freaked my other cat out and she ran out of the room. jumpy
I've had others tell me that they've actually seen the ghost of their pets in their favorite places, or doing what they normally do.
Growing up as a Christian and I still consider myself one, though now without the organized visits to a church part, but the idea that there were no animals in heaven was something that I always heard taught and it always bothered me.
I had a conversation about it with my great grandma when I was young - about six -ish, I think - and I asked her about this because it had come up in Sunday school that day and she and my great Grandpa had been missionaries in China for many years, so I figured she would know. She told me about the lion and the lamb that would lay down together and be friends. That was the single conversation that reassured me so much when I would hear later that animals don't have souls and wouldn't be in heaven. I was adamant that if the pets that I loved so very much weren't going to be allowed in, then I didn't want to go either.
The rainbow bridge poem was new to me until last year. I had heard the name, but never actually read it. The summer of 2013 my cat that I had for about 17 years died. The night he died some of the most wonderful people I know posted that poem to me and comforted me. A day or two later I got a card from my veterinarian with that poem, too. I found an enormous amount of comfort in those words, but I still, a year and a half later, can't read it without tearing up and crying.
Take care, Cindi
Last Edit: Dec 16, 2014 2:51:38 GMT -6 by Glencairn
Post by whitealice on Dec 20, 2014 15:12:06 GMT -6
@wrabbit2000,
Pope Francis, as you probably already know, takes his namesake from St. Francis of Assisi. St. Francis of Assisi is the patron saint of both animals and nature (ecology as per Pope John Paul II). He not only preached to people but animals as well. There was no dividing line really for St. Francis of Assisi and many of his stories are of him having a surreal relationship with the animal world.
In that light, considering that Pope Francis took Francis as his name to honor this particular saint, I would say that it strongly implies his personal belief, that is supported in the bible that we are all God's creatures and in that we are all God's creatures, we all have the right to salvation.
I'm an atheist but my views, sans the deity, are very similar to St. Francis of Assisi and, likewise, Pope Francis. Beliefs in the spiritual equality of animals to ourselves are not foreign at all outside of Christianity and really, that was specifically why I was not a bilagaana on the Navajo rez. You see, the Navajo believe that the People are not just human but includes animal people, too. Before we ate our turkeys on Thanksgiving day, a prayer of thanks to the turkey itself was given each time and at great length for giving up its life to strengthen us and wishing its spirit well, essentially (usually a 25-30 minute long prayer). At sheep butcherings, the same would be done as the sheep's throat would be cut. Thank you for sacrificing your life, your life will give us health, strength, and will not go unappreciated. May your spirit move on in peace and so on. Equality, sharing and stewardship permeate the Navajo culture. It was the essence of what they called hozho.
It's a very foreign concept, I think, to many Europeans these days and I'm glad to see Pope Francis attempting to restore these ideas that once just walked with St. Francis of Assisi. It's pertinent in these times.