“I was washing dishes, and it made me happy.”

It was about 11 AM when we got back to New Friends, and we asked what else we could do to help. The Beagle puppy was asleep in the laundry basket, and a lot of the chores had been done already. The caregiver said, "well there isn't much else to do... unless you want to do dishes."

"Sure," I said. I was there to help, and I didn't mind doing whatever needed doing. She seemed a bit surprised at that.

"Really? she asked.

"Yeah, no problem. Just show us what we need to do." So they brought a bunch of dog bowls in, and set us up at the two sinks. We had a sink full of soapy water to wash the bowls, and then we had a bucket with hot water and bleach to sterilize them a bit after they had been cleaned. It made sense to me, knowing that Best Friends made sure that every animal there was fed a meal tailored to them, based on health issues or allergies, or anything like that. There couldn't be any remaining food or medicine particles in any of the bowls when they were washed, or it could cause problems for other dogs down the line.

So we got to washing, and I was careful to scrub every bowl completely clean before giving it the bleach water bath. As I was washing, a thought occurred to me. Washing dishes is generally considered a menial task, something most people wouldn't want to do or aren't interested in doing. It's not work that takes any kind of skill and it's not something that people are proud of doing as a job.

But Best Friends isn't just any place. If I'm washing dog bowls, I'm actually doing something that helps, even if it's only a little bit. I'm helping to make sure dogs don't get contaminated, and I'm allowing the staff at Dogtown to do more useful things with their time than washing dishes.

In a more general sense, I'm happy to be doing anything that places me in service to these animals. Anything I can do to help, I'll do. I've spent too much of my life being selfish and working towards my own goals, and now I have an opportunity to give something back to animals who need our help. I was washing dishes, and it made me happy.

The view from the cafeteria deck

We finished up right around noon and went back to Angel Village for lunch. We had another delicious vegetarian meal and sat outside on the deck overlooking the valley. It was beautiful, and I began to wonder why I didn't live in a place like this, where important work was being done to save animals, and the scenery was so beautiful it made me reluctant to leave. It pressed all of my buttons in a way that no other place has.

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