Brian Pascal said there are two kinds of people in the world, the righteous who think they are sinners, and the sinners who think they are righteous. This is, in a way, the cruel story of the New York Carriage Horses. There are people who would have you believe they love the horses so much that they are more righteous than you are, and more righteous than the people who own the horses and ride them through the great park every day. Socrates said that all men’s souls are immortal, but the souls of the righteous are both immortal and divine.

There is divinity in the horses and in the people who work and live with them, you can see if if you go to New York, ride with them, visit their stables. It is not that they are saints or perfect people – they are only too human – it is that their cause is just and righteous, thus the divine rides with them in their carriages. Righteousness is not about purity, it is about innocence and good faith.

The people seeking to ban the horses would have you believe this wrenching controversy is all about the sad horses that they insist are tired and overworked, pining for the country, where they can roam freely and eat grass stretching to the horizon.  It is not about them, they swear, that is not why they are ruining so many lives, it is just about the horses. Even in cynical New York, nobody seems to buy that much anymore. Most New Yorkers simply seem to shrug their shoulders and accept that the money fix is in, they have seen it before. I don’t know if this hard view is true or not, I have no evidence in hand about it.

I do know that this is a story about people, and the great injustice that might be about to befall them and that has befallen them for years now. It is about the driver whose son watched in horror  as a demonstrator threw beer at his blameless father and called him an abuser and a murderer. It is about the carriage owner who worries so much and for so long about his family and how he will pay his bills that his friends say he drinks too much now, to get to sleep.

It is about the woman and mother who drove a carriage for years and who is tired and frail now, and whose daughter wants to follow in her steps. The mother watches in anger and fear as some of the most powerful men in the big city try to take away her daughter’s future and legacy and their way of life – a way of life that began with her great grandparents and parents, who came to America to work in the stables many years ago.

This mother e-mailed me last night. She has been fighting for the horses for a long time, and she writes that she is battling a painful depression attributable to the struggle of the people in the carriage trade and their uncertain future. She wrote me to thank me for writing about the horses, “for all you have done for us, simply by being who you are. I think it is a miracle, I think you are one of the angels God has sent us in our righteous fight. I feel a deep connection to you through your writing, and my gratitude runs just as deep.”

I nearly cried when I read this, it filled my heart with humility and grace and pride. I have done nothing for these people, I thought, it seems that no one can get the reporters and politicians in New York to leave their press conferences and cell phones and blogs to walk a few blocks and tell the true story of the New York Carriage horses and the suffering of the people in the carriage trade. I will try and do it here, day after day.

These are the souls of the righteous, and I believe God will send them a miracle, not in the form of me, but in the robes and wrappings of justice and truth, more powerful always than evil and lies. The divine lives in a righteous cause, and such a cause is a gift to everyone blessed to be called to it. I thank you, brave lady, for your beautiful message, and my wish for you is that you will not despair. God and his angels have many miracles up their sleeves, and every one of them loves a righteous cause and a horse that works.

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My new e-book, “Who Speaks For The Carriage Horses: The Future Of Animals In Our World,” is available everywhere digital books are sold, for $3.99.