The shearer found shards of barbed wire throughout Izzy’s wool, our friend Jay Bridge brought some to us so we could see it. Izzy, like Kelly, has become a symbol to us and others, something to feel good about as we are swimming in this sea of sadness and anger.

Small acts of good, I find, keep me afloat, keep hope alive, remind me of the glorious promise of human beings, the only species on the earth who can choose to be good, choose to be better.

Our imaginations lead us to the promise of good things, the power to do good.The fierce power of imagination is a sacred gift, joined with the complexity and grandeur of the human mind, our unique ethical depth, and our innate and natural sense of the divine. Imagination becomes a powerful tool, a magnificent instrument for hope and for seeing what is good in us.

I imagine Izzy lying for days, months, even years, on wool laced with barbed wire. I imagine someone wanting to save her, to find a good home for her rather than sending her to slaughter. I imagine someone taking her in, having him shorn, giving her the good life all living things deserve.  My heart sings seeing her lie down in comfort to chew her cud.

All of this imagining came to be. We’ll keep the barbed wire in the wool, not as a reminder of cruelty or neglect, but of goodness and redemption.