When people are cruel to one another, animals feel it. This happens when they experience trauma – such as witnessing the fatal shooting of one of their humans, as Renee Good’s dog did.

I would tell you it also happens when they sense the grief and pain their humans feel over such events, even far away. A horse told me last week he knew human cruelty was “out there” and that it made his beloved person feel angry and discouraged. Then he showed me an image of himself with all four feet planted firmly on the ground: “There is good.”

A few days later, after I read about the killing of Alex Pretti, one of our cats climbed into my lap and gently kneaded my chest, looking into my eyes and purring. This face-to-face kneading was a departure from her usual facing-out, turning-around-a-few- times kneading. Of course she had no idea who Alex Pretti was, what ICE is or what immigration means. No doubt she picked up on the energy and images I carried away from that news story. She knew it was something happening in the human world, and she was there providing evidence of what is good in said world.

I don’t know much about policy or politics, but I know that treating people as if they don’t matter is not only wrong but unnecessary. We can be fair to strangers of all stripes. We can ask better questions. We can, and must, create a kinder world for animals and ourselves.

(Photo by Anastasiya Lobanovskaya/Pexels)