Monday morning and Red is at the office, hard at work. I grumble a lot about unsolicited advice but I got some good advice yesterday when I wrote about Red’s becoming a therapy dog and my uncertainty about which kind of therapy work I want to do with him. I mentioned that I was considering working with vets at a local VA Hospital and in therapy groups and I got a lot of wonderful feedback about that from people, many of whom have sons and daughters who are returning from our wars with a lot of needs and problems. I think some of those people would relate to Red on many levels, and I thought he would connect with them. He is an empath, he reads emotions well.

I know many young vets, home from Iraq and Afghanistan to a country that loves to go to war but is quick to forget the people they send to fight them and many are struggling with adjustment issues, from PTSD to depression. I’ve suffered from both of those things in my own private wars and I can hardly imagine what they are going through after years of combat in wars that seemingly can’t be won. I think it would be a good focus for Red once he completes his therapy certification process next week. I hope to write about these vets we meet and photograph them, if they agree and give permission, as I did with Izzy in hospice. Maybe put up a special page to write about them and keep the photos.

I was touched by the many messages of encouragement I got from many of you, the advice didn’t seem inappropriate at all, but heartfelt and touching. Many were from mothers and fathers struggling to figure out how to help their scarred sons and daughters.  It clarified my thinking about Red and the place he is taking me. It is my wish to live in a world that doesn’t send our kids off to suffer and die for the ambitions of angry old men sitting at desks far away. I think it is true that if the old men had to go, there would be no wars.  If I may not get to see such a world, perhaps I can help ease the suffering of these people a bit and bring them to an animal who seems brighten the spirits of human beings.