Month: February 2014

Berks County resident, Colby, reads I Will Love You Forever by Robert Munsch to a shelter cat.

I just have to start in saying that this is one of the most precious things I have ever seen.

In Berks County, PA, The Animal Rescue League initiated a program that benefits both children and felines.  The program, called Book Buddies, allows children in grades 1 through 8 of all reading levels to come to the animal shelter to read to shelter cats.  The program is meant to create a fun and non-judgmental atmosphere for children to improve their reading skills as well as comfort the shelter cats with some human contact. Started in August of 2013, this program has become very popular and attracted several members.

This is not just a fun idea so that kids can play with cats while they learn, though; the benefits of the program are even rooted in scientific study. Similar programs that were implemented across the country have also proven successful. The Animal Rescue League’s website quotes Tufts University studies in stating that animals like cats can have a “non-evaluative presence that can provide support and comfort to participants without judging them” which can thereby facilitate greater learning. Other studies have also found that autistic children showed “increased use of language” and “improved social interactions” while with an animal (“Book Buddies”).

The Animal Rescue League has also developed the program further to include fun incentives for the children to read.  For instance, the children are awarded a ticket for every 5 books they finish reading.  They can submit their tickets into a raffle for a chance to win various prizes.

I think this program is a wonderful merging of kindness initiatives in the fields of education and helping animals.  The Animal Rescue League even claims that “Cats find the rhythmic sound of a voice very comforting and soothing.”  Whether this is true (I’m skeptical as to how they would know such a thing) doesn’t really matter.  On some level, I would assume that the cats get some enjoyment out of interacting with a person as opposed to the monotony of sitting around in the shelter. And either way, I think part of why the children enjoy the activity so much is that they feel like they are helping the cats and making a difference. While the cats have no idea that they are helping the kids in their own little way, I love the reciprocal nature of this program.

I could see this program as an exercise in kindness for the kids as well as in reading.  If the children understand that helping others (even non-human others) makes them happy, this could foster further acts of kindness.

(Links to original articles: 1) https://www.berksarl.org/programs/book-buddies/#sthash.kTb3sqWq.dpbs 2) http://kindnessblog.com/2014/02/12/children-read-to-shelter-cats-to-soothe-them/ 3) http://newsfeed.time.com/2014/02/10/shelter-encourages-kids-to-read-to-cats-and-the-photos-are-as-adorable-as-youd-expect/)

Photos by Animal Rescue League of Berks County

Over this past weekend, the web was all a-buzz about the story of a five-month-old infant who was saved on a state highway in Miami, Florida.  On Thursday afternoon, Pamela Rauseo was driving along Florida State Highway 836 when she noticed that her nephew, Sebastian De La Cruz was unconscious and had stopped breathing.  She pulled over to the side of the road and yelled out desperately at passing drivers for help. Within seconds, strangers stopped and came to her aid.

The first driver to stop was photographer, Al Diaz, who signaled for help from other drivers, asking if they knew CPR, and left to find a police officer just a few cars back.  Next to stop was Lucila Godoy (featured in right of photo), who performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on Sebastian and revived him while her own child waited in her car.  Unfortunately, quickly after Godoy revived the infant, he stopped breathing again.

By this time, Diaz had retrieved police officer, Maurius Bastidas (holding baby in photo), who arrived at the scene. Sebastian was turning a deadly blue, but Bastidas performed further chest compressions on Sebastian and he eventually regained breathing and a healthier color.  The baby was then taken to the Jackson Memorial hospital for further treatment.

 Bastidas was normally assigned to bike patrol at a nearby mall and had not faced such a dire situation in his career, but fortunately his professional training proved life-saving. He is quoted in saying, “Save someone’s life, it’s my duty. It’s my duty to act.” Godoy also later said that she was spurred to action by considering how she would feel if she were in Rauseo’s shoes.  She tried to save the baby as if he were her own.

News sources later learned that Sebastian De La Cruz was born prematurely with respiratory issues. A hospital spokesperson said that he was in stable condition on Thursday evening, but they had not determined what caused him to stop breathing on the highway.

In the wake of this touching account of kindness, I still can’t help but wonder why the reaction of the other drivers is considered so surprising and why it has received such massive attention—trending on Facebook, featuring on the yahoo! news homepage, etc.  The actions of Godoy, Bastidas, and Diaz are admirable, no doubt, and I do not mean to take away from their kindness in any way, but shouldn’t we expect such reactions from any normal, compassionate population?

Godoy’s words in an interview with CBS resonated with me and sum up my point here: “I’m not a hero, I just did what you would have done To Godoy, it seems like it should be second-nature to stop and help the woman and her baby, but I still have the sense that many people expected a grimmer outcome and a more passive reaction from drivers. And Bastidas even said it himself, it’s his duty to help.

So I wonder, are we so inundated with malicious acts in the news and in our lives that such acts of kindness become an abnormality—even when coming from police officers?  If some of us come to accept the selfish nature of human kind, aren’t we bound to perpetuate it?

These are scary questions, but luckily people like Godoy maintain a faith that human nature compels us to kindness in such situations.

Link to original article: http://miami.cbslocal.com/2014/02/20/motorists-rush-to-help-unconscious-baby-on-dolphin-expressway/

(Photos by: Al Diaz, Miami Herald Photographer)