I have been an animal lover all my life. As a child I brought home a whole menagerie of animals through the years. From baby rabbits to stray dogs, no creature was too small, too wild or too dirty for me to rescue. So when I came across this story on the web about a woman and her husband who rescue an orphaned baby rat from the alley behind their apartment, it really spoke to me.

It is clear that the author and her husband didn’t expect any thing from this baby rat, they just didn’t want to leave the little guy to die alone in the cold. When he survived, they expected to return him to the wild to live his life with his own kind. What they didn’t expect was how easily the little furry creature would insinuate himself into their lives, or that one little alley rat would change their lifestyle and teach them about empathy and altruism.

As a child though, my motives were not wholly altruistic. In fact they were down right selfish. I liked how being with the animals made me feel. Continue reading “Never Underestimate the Power of Furry Friends”