Quotes from Renée Askins

There is a growing sentiment in America today that animals, too, have rights and that we collectively should afford them, at the very least, more respect and consideration as the sentient, autonomous beings they clearly are. Of course, this flies in the face of Western civilization's stated assumption of man's dominion over the beasts. The way we resolve this conflict in our culture, or fail to, has much to do with who we are, who we will become, and the legacy we leave for generations to come.

While there were some friends who could feel the enormity of my loss and offered tremendous compassion, the world in general has little patience or empathy for loss of an animal companion. Many people were unable to fathom the level of my grief because they could not fathom that level of connection with an animal. To me this is yet another reflection of the alienation from the animal world that our culture feels.

The wild is where you find it, not in some distant world relegated to a nostalgic past or an idealized future; its presence is not black or white, bad or good, corrupted or innocent... We are of that nature, not apart from it. We survive because of it, not instead of it.

Being enabled, like being loved, is one of the marvels of the world's benevolence. It is to be given wings.