Opie

 

Po Boy views

By

Phil LaMancusa

Requiem

Or

Universality

        “It’s only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye. All grownups were once children… but only few of them remember it.” The Little Prince

        “Once upon a time there was a little prince who lived on a planet hardly any bigger than he was, and who needed a friend”. The Little Prince by Antoine De Saint-Exupery is called a wise and enchanting fable; if the book doesn’t inspire you, then I believe that there is no hope for you.

        The book starts with a pilot that has crash-landed in the desert with little or no help available and out of seemingly nowhere comes a small visitor (picture David Bowie at eleven years of age). The boy is called a little prince, but as he is the only inhabitant of his planet (which is no bigger than a house) he has no competition. Little Prince is only what he is called by the pilot and the book, and that’s good enough for me (and should be for you).

        The boy has travelled far and wide and has had experiences on other small planets with a series of archetypical adult figures that when taken objectively; resemble many adults (grown-ups) around you now. The little guy asks the pilot to draw him a particular picture and the adventures, lessons, and wisdom begins. It is a classic example of ‘from the mouths of babes’.

        In other words, it’s life in its simplest form, and when life is seen in its simplest form, happiness is within reach; but also is heartbreak. Life is usually seen in its simplest form when someone has nothing left to lose.

        My veterinarian, ten years ago, found a newborn kitten on a rainy Moss Street roadway, nursed it to life and we got the pleasure of it sharing our lives with it. Debbie named him Opie because he looked like Ron Howard. His colors were what are called butterscotch. He grew with an appetite and a gentle lovingness unsurpassed. Before his illness he weighed about twenty pounds.

        The Little Prince teaches us that, if we look with our hearts, loving a person, place or thing makes it ours. Although there may be many persons, places and things seemingly alike to others, that cannot take away that that is not the one that WE love. WE, in loving the ones WE love, makes that ONE special and ours alone; one rose out of a thousand, if it is our rose, is, in its uniqueness, the only rose we truly can love with all of our being. All roses are beautiful; but, OUR rose will outshine them all. So too it is with a star that we choose, a piece of music, work of art, lover and/or a cat.  

        When we experience this sensibility, we become like children who love with all their hearts and all that they love, without reason or regret; without condition, becomes significant and personal.

        Opie was diagnosed with an incurable cancer and instead of subjecting him to the discomfort of debilitating procedures and medicines we had chosen to bring him home and spoil him and love on him until it was time for him to, as they say, cross that Rainbow Bridge. His tumor had grown too large for him to function normally now, growing to a twenty-six inch stomach circumference and he was fading. We took him back to the clinic today to begin his next life’s journey; his time here is at an end, and the quality of life we promised for him had become no longer an option.

        We feel that it is only fitting for our Vet who brought him into this world to be the person that takes him out. I would say that we are heartbroken, but heartbroken is too mild a term for how we feel; once again the Bureau of Happy Endings is not answering our calls or wishes.  

        You know the drill; every day there is an inhumanity against loved ones, yours or someone else’s. You put your faith in a higher being to guide and assist you and to offer succor and support. As it turns out, this higher being has plans of its own and you may say that this higher being is “moving in mysterious ways”. I differ to agree. I don’t think the mother f*cker cares a whit.

        I’ve had friends, lovers, family and critters that I’ve loved cross that frickin’ ‘Rainbow Bridge’ without knowledge or consent for this “Mysterious Way”. And I call foul.  I believe in the teaching that all religions that tell us to treat others as we would be treated; I take exception to the teachings that have the caveat that it means everyone except those that are not like us.

        Opie rallied today (of all days) and we took him in praying for a reprieve that did not come. I watched the light fade from his bright eyes and heard Dr. Nicole Larroque tell me that his heart had stopped.

        The Doc told us that the first shot took Opie’s spirit out of his body and the second shot (once his body had relaxed) took his body away from him. That means, to me, that Opie’s spirit is still out there and will find itself back to us.

        Call me what you will; but, if you should one day spy a little butterscotch asking for directions… please send him home. He’s my good friend and I miss him so very very much.