I've always agreed with your writing and analysis of our dire predicament. However, this piece is easily my favorite of your works to date. It struck a chord within my own experience, but it also presented a peek into your makeup and purpose for what you do that wasn't evident before.

I was raised in a very rural area where animals served a purpose for people. If they weren't hunted they were used for tasks that made life easier for people. I had a variety of "pets" when I was young, but they were always trained to serve, not simply to be present with love and acceptance always available in abundance.

It wasn't until just a few years ago when I adopted a beagle rescued from a laboratory research facility that I understood the depth of friendship I had been missing in those previous relationships out of my own ignorance and conditioning. Bo had lived in an elevated wire cage for the first five years of his life, only experiencing human contact while being prodded and poked to determine some chemical's reaction to a living being.

He had no real purpose beyond just being there, but something about him and the way he didn't hold any of his previous pain against anyone, giving his trust and love unconditionally, made it imperative that I adopt him for the remainder of his life. Our bond was immediate and it felt as if it had always been there, only unnoticed previously.

He lived another five years in as much comfort and peace as I could provide and was my constant companion. I only had to search in his eyes whenever I lost sight of my own purpose and I would see it reflected in the absolute love he had in abundance and gave so freely without question or condition. While I never achieved it, my goal was always to be the person Bo thought I was, which may be the loftiest of possibilities.