In ancient times, people worshiped their Gods and the philosophy and creativity and conscience of other people. In our time, I think, we are sometimes so disenchanted with people that we have come to worship animals, they are, for growing numbers of people, a faith and a religion.

It is interesting to note that for all that the shrinking brains of the left and the right have done to polarize American politics and thought – ideology does not permit original thinking or disagreement – everyone seems to love animals.  The politics of the animal world are every bit as rigid and vicious as the politics of cable news but the love of animals seems to unite people, no one cares to speak against them.

The carriage horse controversy in New York and elsewhere is tragic, not only because it puts safe and healthy animals in great danger, but because the great minds of the city government and the animal rights movement do not seem to grasp the healing and unifying power of animals like the big horses, or like dogs or elephants.

The horses can do a lot of good, if permitted. They help people heal, they calm people, they promote a love of the earth and the environment, they are large but gentle, they can be touched and approached, they can do many tasks that machines now do that would bring them in closer contact to people than they are now permitted to be.

Think of how schools could use animals to quiet and inspire children, and teach them about the earth, and about our own history with these proud creatures. Think about the elderly and the sick taking carriage rides through city neighborhoods, or how touching it would be if the horses delivered food and medicines. Or brought the disabled to parks and doctors appointments. Or doing therapy work with victims of crimes and gunshot wounds.

Or help to plow and dig up gardens and offer their manure for fertilizer. Or haul trash, as they do in so many cities in the world. Imagine what sturdy ponies could do in urban neighborhoods, giving rides to children, showing them how to brush and care for animal, connecting them to nature. When it comes to animals, were are the people of vision and imagination?

How powerful a motivation animals are for children. If you want to see for yourself, stand by the horse carriage lines in New York and watch the faces of the children who come by to stand and stare and touch them. What sane society would drive animals like that away?

In our increasingly narrow view of animals, we  only see them as helpless and abused, we don’t really see them at all any longer. We know few ways to make ourselves feel better about the world than “rescuing” animals from us, our partners in the world, not only our victims.

If you go to Blue Star Equiculture farm in Palmer, Mass., you can see the power of the horses to heal the emotionally disabled, young men and women tangled in the justice system, battered spouses.  You can see the power of their work on farms and towns.

Before I came to my farm, I would have scoffed at the idea of animals healing and unifying the world. I’d love to see a few Labs dozing in the U.S. Senate, they might even get senators to work together for the common good, rather than thwart and obstruct. Animals make us smile. They heal our wounds. They touch our souls and lift our spirits. They work with us and for us.

If we are divided in so many things, we are united in our love of animals. No “left” or “right” has yet poisoned that well.

Can animals heal the world? Not if they are not in it, not if the people who claim to speak for their rights succeed in driving them to the ghettos of the animal world, out of human sight and mind.

In other cities around the world, leaders are experimenting with bringing horses back to urban environments, not just chasing them away. Animals cannot help us if they live only on rescue preserves and private compounds.  it is obvious what dogs do for people in so many ways, they bring unconditional love and attention to many millions of people who live without it in our disconnected world.

I believe animals could  help heal the world – literally as well as figuratively, every horse that replaces a car helps to save the world.