23 Comments
Mar 31, 2023Liked by Wayne Hsiung

I am in Sydney, Australia. We do outreaching, vigils, protests and marches. Recently the council tried to charge us money to do outreaching on council property. After two weeks of intense emails to council and police, we won. We are back outreaching to the public. The fuel to my fire was listening to the Simple Heart podcast. Listening to the trials. In this big world we are all in this together, defending animals. Thank you guys, keep leading with commitment and courage and we will follow. RIP Joan xx

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Thank you for your loving story of Joan, your loving tribute to this amazing cat - so much goodwill and adventurousness - so much you learned. I think you must have also learned, at some point, what all kittens need to stay alive, like the 2 frightened kittens in the corner of the closet. I'm someone who kept alive a 4-day-old kitten who needed, due to injuries, to be kept separate from the mother for several days. I had the help of the vet to whom I took the injured kitten. He showed me how to make the tiny thing pee and poop. And Scruffers grew up to be an amazingly loving creature, utterly bonded to me all his life. I'm so glad you've had Joan in your life, for all you learned, and also for all the loving. And I'm so glad I've had Scruffers in my life.

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Mar 31, 2023Liked by Wayne Hsiung

Thank you Joan for changing the world and showing your Papa how to do the same ❤️ RIP sweet boy. Thank you for gracing the Earth

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Beautiful, thoughtful piece. Tears in my eyes while reading. Your words - and Joan's example ❤ - will help me work through my angst and sadness I feel most every day about the state of the planet. I work everyday doing the things I can to "be the change" -- and it becomes exhausting and disheartening. Joan's example -- together with your words -- transforms my thoughts -- and gives me the positive energy to stay in action. TY❣

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Mar 31, 2023Liked by Wayne Hsiung

An amazing story same here with a dog when I first met him I was scared and concerned he'd lived next door to me and was being left by owner for up to 13 hours and he'd get stuck in a room and was scraping to get out I offered despite fear of dogs on first meetings to walk him owner refused but did make provisions for him by keeping doors open and him having access to outside eventually owner had to leave the property and new abode forbade digs so he called round and asked whether I could find him a home a friend had recently had experienced the loss of his dog Joe but agreed to take Bamber my neighbours dog who I walked even though fearful and him of me it is always like this for me with dogs until I eventually bond but always wary mainly because I couldn't figure out from their past experiences how willing they are to trust another human and I always fearful of being bitten he taught me that it's not a given that that would be the case I ended with Bamber as being my companion when Rupert my friend and Bambers due to declining health could no longer do his share of walking Bamber he taught me to build up that trust and he lived to 15 years of age great friend and companion fear can be a debilitating experience

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A most interesting read particularly the comment that fear is self created, and the solution is to be found in the actions of Alicia and Alexandra, who seek the goodwill in people and hope to open a discussion. That makes them fearless, because they want to have a conversation rather than seeing them as enemies and worrying about the consequences. The world is an uncertain place and if we approach it hoping to have a conversation with uncertainty then we will see life as an adventure. I hope that is the right conclusion. I hope you or Marina will write a book about the Foster Farm trial. Best wishes Rupert

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Apr 1, 2023Liked by Wayne Hsiung

Wayne, I learned about your work from the Animal Justice Academy. Thank you for your deep commitment to animals. Joan was an amazing cat and |I know from several things I've heard you say recently, that you are feeling his loss. When I lose an animal, I console myself by acknowledging that they are only with us for a short time but that I was so privileged to spend that time with them. Take care - we (human and non-human animals) need people like you

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Mar 31, 2023Liked by Wayne Hsiung

Thank you for writing about beautiful, fearless Joan ❤️. Very emotional read 😢 & then with surprise I laughed when Turkey pooped, maybe because of what you said. Thank you.

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Apr 3, 2023·edited Apr 4, 2023Liked by Wayne Hsiung

I’m so sorry about Joan. I agree, saying it’s like losing a limb isn’t even close to an apt comparison. He was lucky to have you, and you him. (Edited to correct to HE!)

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Apr 2, 2023Liked by Wayne Hsiung

I'm so honored to have met Joan before he passed. I have my kitty Nikki, who has a similar story, in my lap as I write this. She was days old when she showed up in my neighbor's yard crying, and when I tried to drop her at the shelter they told me she'd be killed if I left her, so of course I took her home. My dog Millie wanted to kill her, but she never showed the slightest deterrence from her mission to survive and quickly won Millie over with her fearlessness and adventurousness. She went everywhere with me when she was tiny, the beach, the dog park...and she's won my husband over, a self-proclaimed non-cat-person! Animals show us the best parts of ourselves and the potential for humanity to live from that place instead of a place of fear. Joan did it for you, Nikki did it for me.

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Apr 2, 2023Liked by Wayne Hsiung

Fear is indeed a huge problem...for the world and for me personally. For those of us who experienced childhood trauma and abandonment the consequences of not fearing and avoiding at all costs the disapproval of those you relied on seemed so real, and are hard to overcome. For ourselves, our children, and the survival of our species we must. We must realize that fear is based on lies...that we are alone when we are not...that we don't matter when we do...that we're weak when we're powerful beyond measure. Thanks for another great blog post Wayne. You help bring healing the world so desperately needs! <3

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So sorry for the loss of Joan! He was an absolute joy to watch in the two videos.

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my only remaining question (unless I missed it in the original post) is what happened to the other two kittens in the closet. Did you keep them too?

Keep up the wonderful work, we need more like you!

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