War sucks. In addition to all of the terrible global consequences, it tears families apart domestically, too. It raises generations of families to walk on eggshells around sensitive topics and frequently makes individuals possessive of the precious remaining time with their loved ones before shipping out overseas.
But this isn't an anti-war rant. This is a display of animals and their capacity to love! (Yes, I just said that.)
When you think about a kid trying to understand the concept of war, you have to explain high-level concepts like nationalism, imperialism, cultural clashes and the differences in religion, and, toughest of all, why their mom or dad is a part of all of that rather than staying close to their kids. And, when the family member is away, the kid is almost overwhelmed with confusion in addition to missing their loved one terribly, although they know that there will be an end to their longing.
So when you remove the context of why a beloved family member is gone for so long, there's just loss. And that's why these videos below showing the reaction from soldiers' dogs is so amazing! The dogs are perfectly healthy and received all their critical items to survive, like food and shelter, from someone else. These reunions are just the split-second reaction to an animal's genuinely shocked expressions of love for a person they probably thought was gone forever. It's an incredible psychological experiment on animals to test whether or not they'd actually remember their owners, and also to see for how long their adoration would remain. And compared to the Homecoming videos of children of soldiers, where their dad or mom surprises them in a school assembly, these videos are a lot less exploitational and socially loaded, and, I think, even more tear-jerking.
And, now, ladies and gentlemen, without further ado, I give you:
Dacschunds.
A Boxer. (?)
Beagles.
Half-Corgie, Half...Lab (?)
*sobs*
Posted by: noctua | July 27, 2010 at 01:27 PM