A Child's View Can Be So Enlightening - Something I read

A veterinarian had been called to examine a sick ten-year-old Irish Wolfhound named Belker. The dog's owners, Ron, his wife Lisa, and their little boy Shane, were all very attached to Belker, and they were hoping for a miracle.

He examined Belker and found he was dying of cancer. He told the family we couldn't do anything for Belker, and offered to perform the euthanasia procedure for the old dog in their home. As they made arrangements, Ron and Lisa told him they thought it would be good for six-year-old Shane to observe the procedure. They felt as though Shane might learn something from the experience.

The next day, he felt the familiar catch in his throat as Belker's family surrounded him. Shane seemed so calm, petting the old dog for the last time, that he wondered if he understood what was going on. Within a few minutes, Belker slipped peacefully away.

The little boy seemed to accept Belker's transition without any difficulty or confusion. They all sat together for a while after Belker's death, wondering aloud about the sad fact that animal lives are shorter than human lives. Shane, who had been listening quietly, piped up, 'I know why.'

Startled, they all turned to him. What came out of his mouth next stunned them. They had never heard a more comforting explanation.

He said, 'People are born so that they can learn how to live a good Life -- like loving everybody all the time and being nice, right?' The six-year-old continued, 'Well, dogs already know how to do that, so they don't have to stay as long.'

Tribulation - A poem by David Reiner

Am I drowning like a dark romance?
Have I slipped beneath the waves with billowy layers of petticoats?
My heart is aching and pounding.
A tight pressure within my chest.
Is my heart muscle struggling and dying?
Is the oxygen deprived from my soul?
So short of breath and cold.

Have I been electrocuted?
The current surging through me.
The arrhythmia, stopping my heart dead.
Unconsciousness to the world.
No feeling left in my soul.
The wave of energy passing through.
Tearing my soul from within.

I have been robbed of my energy.
Happiness and enthusiasm evading me.
Frustration, sadness and grief consuming me.
Have I become hopeless to this world?
The worry and anxiety tunneling through my heart.
What is happening to the world around me?
The wars are intensifying castrating the souls.

Where is my lost love?
The one I live for and care for daily.
The one who consumed my heart with happiness and love.
The children who engulfed me with joy.
My soul has been ripped from me.
I gladly give myself for their happiness now.
I pass through to an unknown place.

Abandoned in a place called nowhere.
My heart aches eternally.
Where is this place where no love exists?
No feeling for each other.
Has the world gone mad?
The tribulation has approached us.
I am here alone now.

I hear a voice within the darkness.
Telling me to journey back, I don’t belong.
I hear the cries from thousands of souls as the towers came down.
I feel the pain of the world upon me.
I look to the heavens and a faint light appears.
A voice so thunderous saying “I Am”
I feel my body energize with thousands of volts.

The cries of the souls pass through me wave after wave.
Split between the now and then.
I feel the love of my family pulling me to a new place.
The love of my children and my one true love, my wife.
The love of my Father in Heaven guiding me.
Where does this journey go?
I follow the footsteps, the ones He left for me.