Please let this serve as a reminder to all of us, that animals are to be treated with love, respect and kindness-just as humans are.

Loyalty. The Merriam-Webster on line dictionary defines this word as “adherence to something to which one is bound by a pledge or duty: there was no denying the dog’s loyalty to his master.” How fitting for my story. It means something different for everyone.

Loyalty is represented in our culture by wedding rings, customer loyalty cards and even tattoos. There are hundreds of things and concepts we are loyal to-from the friends we have to our religious beliefs, political preference and even the diet soda we drink. I doubt however, that humans are willing to be as loyal to anything as animals are able to be to humans. This has been represented to me over the past few weeks by a dog that I have since named Noble.

Several weeks ago, Noble was dumped by his owners at a fruit stand in Palisade. They simply dropped him off on the side of the road and drove away in their pickup. I have since wondered why? Why would someone deliberately leave a defenseless animal in such a way? What type of person would do this? I have tried to justify a reasonable answer in my mind. “Maybe they did not have the money to feed this dog. Maybe they were evicted from their home and had no place to keep Noble. Maybe they cried when they dropped him off and felt really bad.” Yet when I see Noble every morning and every night, waiting patiently for these ex-dog owners to come back, none of that really matters. Especially not to Noble. He has not left the area for a month. He runs from the many people who have tried to pet, feed or help him. He is scared, anxious and desperate, yet he remains loyal to the very people who treated him like a piece of trash. He searches for them as cars pass by, eagerly waiting to see if finally, they have come, if finally he is going home. As each car passes, one can see the pain inside of him grow as he hangs his head and walks down the road to wait for the next car turning off of the highway. In the mind of this amazing creature, it does not matter what home was like, what brand of dog food he ate or if he even had a bed. It matters not if he was always outside, if he had no toys or even if he was beaten. Any home is better than no home. Loyalty.

I am loyal to my friends, my family and yes, even to the brand of soda I drink. I was raised by loyal parents and am fortunate to have a loyal husband and three very loyal dogs. I consider myself to be a loyal person, but I am not certain I am like Noble; if I am even capable of this type of unconditional love. Can I be faithful? Yes. Can I love unconditionally? I try to! Who in life have I pledged to or what in life do I feel such a sense of duty to that I would be able to remain loyal to like Noble has, even after being abandoned, broken hearted?

Tonight, as I sit writing, right or wrong, I can only think of a few things I would even attempt to be this loyal for. This is the difference between an animal and a human: animals are much more forgiving. Before I go to bed, I will go water and feed Noble. I am hopeful that someone who is capable of loving an animal as they deserve to be loved will be able to break through his wounded spirit. I am hopeful that Noble will have a new home of committed parents, a warm bed and a big yard with lots of cool toys. I hope someday I am able to be more like this dog than his previous owners. Loyal and Noble.

NOTE: The day I wrote this, Noble was killed on I-70-just near the Palisade exit. I honestly think he finally gave up waiting and was going to try and walk home to find his owners.

KELLI KESSELL
Palisade

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 26th, 2008 at 2:08 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.