It was interesting to see, I believe almost all of the other animals knew Jake was dying well before I did. Yesterday, Ma pushed him away when he tried to nurse, the sheep and the donkeys came up to him to smell him carefully, they smelled the sickness and change in him, they  began to turn from him. We tried all of the things technology can offer a lamb – the shots, medicines, stimulants. We could not smell what Simon and the other sheep smelled.

Jake is a white animal, the Indians believe white animals appear for a reason, they carry messages for us. Thinking on this out in the pasture where Jake died, I thought how universal and common a thing grief it. No one grieves alone, no one experiences loss alone. The Indians believe the appearance of the white animal is a call for people to set aside their differences and come together to save the earth.

I believe grief and loss are one of the universal connections for human beings. A lamb is one kind of a loss, a mother and father, another, a child or brother and sister yet another. Illness strikes our friend and loved ones, we lose our beloved pets. Every one of you reading this has suffered a loss, has lost someone, has left a dream behind, a lover, a friend or family member, or they have left you behind. In this way, we all come to know one another.

No loss belongs to one person, and when I lose something I care about, it reminds me that every single person on the earth has experienced a loss, it unites and binds us as few things do in the world. It connects me to the feelings of other.  I am taking Jake’s message to heart, he came for a reason and left for one. That is my experience with spirit animals, they come for a reason, they go when they are ready.

The farm is a great teacher, I am learning every day what it truly means to be a human being in this world.