Sinag: The Uncertain Journey of Professor Ex and His Rescues

Not only this pandemic did bring death to the world but a realization; a lot of realizations. Realizations that life is really short, that death is inevitable, that family is everything, that real friends are more sincere than coworkers and bosses, that savings are life-savers, that economy is indeed the bloodline of every country, that most politicians are crooks, that health is the best weapon in dealing with deadly phenomena, that groceries are more valuable than expensive clothes and shoes, that kitchen utensils are more important than entertainment devices, that prevention is indeed more significant than cure, that medicine is a life extender, that medical fields are noble and essential professions, that frontliners are the real warriors, that farmers, fishermen and those dirty workers are more valuable than managers, CEOs and company presidents, that safety is more important than comfort and convenience, and that those unseen are the most dangerous enemies like this Corona Virus. In short, the most important creation and gift of God is LIFE.

But life was not only gifted to humans, but to many forms, too like animals and even plants. Thus, not only humans do deserve this earth and to live a good life in here, animals and other creatures deserve to live a good life, too while living in this planet. However, we, humans, are sometimes cruel to other creatures if not most often. Oftentimes, we are not aware of our cruelty towards them. We cut trees; birds homes, for our houses, tables, and chairs. We pollute oceans; fishes safe zones, because we are too lazy to properly dispose our garbages. We burn forests; wild animals habitat, just to create a fake or smart cities for the sake of development. We skin animals to death for our clothes to warm us. The list goes on and on.
Being human is not only a privilege but an obligation. We have a lot of responsibilities to fulfill. We have spiritual, moral, and social responsibilities and these include taking care of other creatures, too especially those that are living. When we started eating animals meat, wearing animals skins as clothing, watching animals shows for entertainment, and drinking animals milk is a confirmation of our obligations and responsibilities towards them. But again, we, humans are cruel. May we not aware of it. May we just think that abusing them is the only form of cruelty so we think that we are not cruel because we don’t abuse them. However, seeing them in sufferings and in pain and hungry under a cold rain or a heat of the sun and just ignoring them is also cruelty; a lightest form of cruelty maybe.

This pandemic gave me the opportunity to see things differently from usual. Because I got the chance to release the pressure from academics and work due to lockdown. I was able to free my mind and did some discernments. Part of the realizations is the fact that we, humans are destroying our environment, our world, the earth. So what could I do to at least to mend it? Stay at home, quarantine myself, clean my place, read books, and rest a lot. But those were not enough to give back to the world, to God. Until one day, I decided to go out and discovered a small kitten outside the building where I stay. He was thin, malnourished, dirty, and starving. When I went near him, he ran away towards his family. It was a family of feral cats, 3 big male ones, 3 kittens including the one I saw, 1 mama cat, and 1 male one just a little bigger than the 3 kittens. So I decided to go back to my place and looked for some food that I could give to them. When I went back and offered them the food I brought, they all ate them like they haven’t eaten for long. They really were starving. I was sad upon observing them and thinking of their situation and happy at the same time that I was able to offer them food and extended their lives for a day at least. At night, I kept on thinking of them and how unfortunate they are of their situation. It made me realized more how lucky we, humans are despite our cruelty and ignorance. So I thought that that was my purpose; to help or at least give to these poor cats a little of what I have, at least a food to make them through for a day. That day of feeding them became daily until it became regular like at least thrice a day. It didn’t stop there. It opened my eyes about the situation of other strays outside until I have decided to rescue them when there were complaints about the cats and the building admin decided to get rid of them by asking their people to throw them somewhere. Then my rescuing went on and on until I was able to rescue 30 plus stray and sick kittens that are now healthy grown cats. Almost all my time in this pandemic are spent with and for them including the 50 plus stray cats and dogs that I have been feeding outside everyday. This advocacy of mine of feeding and taking care of stray cats and dogs is already more than a year and no single day since then that my day was empty. It is not enough to give back to the world and to fulfill my duty to God. But this is a small thing that I could do to the animals and my heart is full though my mind is still crying for other strays in the world. Love your neighbor as you love yourself as what the bible says. Thus, let us not forget that animals are our neighbors, too. I am fortunate that I found my purpose. I just found my purpose in the eyes of a kitten.

Support Professor eX’s YouTube Channel at bit.ly/HiddenDigitsByProfEX for more stories of inspiration from his rescues, as well as some tutorials in Mathematics and Statistics.