Spiritual beings on a human journey

I envy you people. You people, whom can drive your car 7 miles away and arrive in 10 minutes. You people who make it to work without your make-up melting off your face, and your SmartSuit soaking wet from a short 10 minute walk in the D.C. heat. You people who don’t have to wait for a train, that is delayed, and then, once on said train, wait, sitting still, in a hot car because the A/C went out and the track cracked in the heat. And then to wait 20 minutes for the second train, which is still late. And all this to arrive home at 1:17 am, after you got up at 5:30 am to walk your dogs, commute to a job that makes your heart sing, but you work for free. A job you have to leave early to go to work, which requires you to put on a smiley face and kiss ass.


Staying in a 10 mile radius of my home yet spending 2 hours to commute, sometimes, is building quite the patient and humbleness streak in me. The fact that the moment I put on my SmartSuit I start sweating, and don’t stop until I get into the shower in the evening, is the most annoying thing. There is no relief that comes when the car A/C kicks on and blows that crisp, cold air in your face, as there is no car, only a bus, or a “hot box” of a train . The relief I find myself looking for is a shady spot along the sidewalk.

I was randomly searched while awaiting the Metro yesterday. The realities of a Post 9/11 Society. It took me by surprise to be asked if he could have my purse and backpack. Of course I obliged; however, it sent me into a monumental personal liberties tailspin. Had I not been exhausted from the 18 hour day I may not have consented. Had I not been so thankful for the Metro police, as well as the D.C. police, on a dark street, or a lonely Metro station late at night, I might not have consented. But the reality is, I gave up one of my rights. One of my rights in which I cried over just a few weeks ago. I gave up a personal liberty. And I’m not sure if it was given up in the name of terrorism, or because I’m in the Nation’s Capitol, therefore, subjected to higher security because “important” people use the same methods to commute as a lone, animal advocate, dreamer, server, dog lover.

We are spiritual beings on a human journey.

Jon Stewart had an author on his show the other day. He was a former “Seal Team Six” member whom has now authored a book. He talked about survivor’s guilt. He talked, very rationally, about how he struggled with being alive after so many great men and women are no longer with us. How it ruined his marriage. How he didn’t know it existed until a new partner came into his life. This made me think about two things.

1) Our veterans get screwed. But we all know this.

2) How I have struggled with my own motivations to help animals, to promote animal welfare. Because I look in the mirror every morning and realize there are as many causes as there are stars. That I have considered adoption because of the all the unwanted, under privileged children in our country and abroad. See, you don’t have a heart that cares only for animals; you don’t have a heart that sees the horrible realities in the world in one light; you don’t have a heart that bleeds for one singular mission. Instead you have a heart that hurts for it all. A heart that desires vast, drastic sweeping change in all facets of life; however, you also have a head. A head that makes a choice, a head that sees the hypocrisy of some of your own actions. A head that convinces your heart that it’s worth it. A head that says “this is your niche, Michelle, you can do ‘something’ in this area.” Because if you see all the anger, and hatred, and nasty things in the world and don’t pick a single avenue, you’ll just turn into an alcoholic writer. A dreamer that can only dream, rather than act. So for all those people that have said, or thought, “what about the children that are dying and starving and killed? We know they have brains, and they can tell us how they feel and suffer, unlike animals, whom we can only speculate as to their feelings.” Those lives are not lost on this soul; those lives are meditated on, but I chose my avenue, and others have chosen theirs. We are spiritual beings on a human journey; a journey to be happy, to grow, to learn, to help, to leave this world better than we found it. My avenue is animals.



A bill was introduced in Senate this week to ban horse slaughter in the United States. While I did not work directly on this project, it came from my office.

As a wildlife intern, I read the complaint filed this week by the Humane Society of the United States against the National Marine Fisheries Service. The complaint concerns the killing of the protected Sea Lions that migrate to the Columbia River in Washington State. The killing was approved because the Sea Lion pose a “threat” to the Salmon population. The irony is that the Sea Lion eat .04-4.2 % of the Salmon population, fisherman take, or to harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect, or to attempt to engage in any such conduct,  16 U.S.C.A. § 1532,  17%, birds take 18%, and dams take a whopping 59% of the same 80,000-280,000 Salmon population. The NMFS authorized the killing and set a quota of 85 Sea Lions to be shot. (Many had already been ‘approved’, as some of the Sea Lions are tagged or easily distinguishable by markings, or personality.)

If you have never seen a Sea Lion they are a water “hound dog;” they lounge around, play around in the water for a few and then lay around some more. Big threat to the dwindling Salmon population, eh?

Ok, so the cool part. I get to sit in on this hearing next week. Yup! The complaint seeks declaratory and injunctive relief and has two residents of the area listed as Plaintiffs, along with the Wild Fish Conservancy. I need to do more research on the topic prior to the hearing but I’m excited to attend my first hearing.

In other news, my research on coyote penning statutes has been quite challenging. 50 states = 50 different legal jargon for a fox, coyote, or wolf; 50 different legal jargon for an enclosure. Time consuming: YES; interesting: YES. I have started to find myself falling into it pretty easily and not struggling as much as my first day. I have also found that my legal mind is growing, as I’m finding loopholes in the law that may or may not work in our favor. I’m finding where the laws need, or could be, developed.

Update on reptile and amphibian imports: I tweaked spreadsheet that we have been working on and found that in 2006 7.1 million reptiles and amphibians were imported into the U.S; in 2007 6.5 million; 2008 6.2 million; 2009 2.8 million; and 2010 2.5 million. I’ll be interested to research and see what caused that dramatic decrease.


To your journey.  *clink*