It's cold in Ohio, several inches of snow and freezing temperatures are enough to keep us inside. No Gazebo today but the view is pretty good on the inside. We've been watching the events leading up to the Inauguration on TV and are warmed by the message and feeling of Unity and Hope. Change is in the air and it is a good feeling.
Mason & I were chatting - mill dogs make the best listeners - and we think this administration has a lot of challenges ahead but we believe with hard work and the support of the American people solutions will be found. We don't think it will happen in a month or even a year. Turning the economy around, ending a war, providing health care for all Americans, re-establishing America's role as a global leader - all of these will take time, sacrifice and hard work from all of us.
Those of us who work with mill dogs are used to this - we have learned the lessons of the mill dogs. They have taught us that regardless of how bad the conditions are, how sick or injured or afraid they are, with time, patience, hard work and hope, they will turn around. They teach us that progess may seem slow, that sometimes a step forward is followed by two steps back. They teach us what it means to persist, to believe, to accept what is now but to hope for what can be. They teach us that progress comes slowly, sometimes in very small steps sometimes it seems like nothing is happening, but then the hard work, patience, and sacrifice pays off. One day we see a step forward and then another and another and before you know it - a mill dog is rehabilitated. We take these dogs in because we want to give them hope and a better life. In the process they teach us to be better people, more patient, more understanding, more forgiving.
Over the next few years, I hope we all remember the lesson of the mill dogs. They learn to trust, to forgive, to love and they become the best they can be. Mason said he wishes the same for our citizens.
