Dear Source:
This holiday season, when people are sharing love and good wishes, I’ll still be here, in a foreign prison waiting for my release. My days will be much like all the others. I have spent many months, or is it years, in mostly solitary confinement, sometimes with very little to eat and deprived of most of the comforts of life. I’ve all but given up hope. I’m writing my story so perhaps others will not end up like me.
I don’t remember much of my early life except that for some reason, I was taken into foster care and eventually adopted. My new adopted family really seemed to like me and I got along well with the other family members. I and the other kids would watch TV together, have snacks, play and have a good time. I was so happy to be part of a real family.
Like most kids, we did get into trouble once in a while, I guess that’s to be expected. Often times, though, I would get punished for doing something that I didn’t know was wrong. I never really got an explanation of why it was wrong, nor did I get any parental guidance as to what I should be doing. I was just little then and didn’t know any better.
As I grew, no one seemed to want to take the time to teach me rules on how to behave. I couldn’t understand how I was supposed to naturally know these things. I desperately wanted them to treat me better. I would have done anything that they asked of me, if only I knew what it was. As time went on, things got worse. The hitting and yelling started and soon, that was about the only attention I ever received. Not much kindness, love or understanding was ever shown to me.
Finally, I did something that was unforgivable. I grew up. They put me in my prison, chained to a dog house in the corner of the yard. It’s foreign to me. My very nature makes me want to be with my family. Once a day someone comes to give me some food. I’d love to be able lick the hand that feeds me, but I barely get a pat on the head. I used to bark for attention, but my cries fell on deaf ears and eventually I gave up trying. I spend my days and nights, in desperate boredom. This Holiday Season, I can only hope that someone will take pity on creatures like me and release us from this horrible life and let us become family members once again.
In the meantime, I and others like me, have only the best of wishes for all of mankind.
Barb Crites, St. John