Sometimes it can seem like the world is a cold, uncaring place where people only act in their own self-interest. But when all of humanity seems irredeemable, all it takes is one story like this to remind us that there is still good in the world: This man would totally adopt this disabled dog that’s about to get euthanized by his local kill shelter if he wanted to.
Awwwwww! This, folks, is what compassion looks like.
When 32-year-old marketing analyst Jerome Ludwig saw a Facebook post pleading to find a home for Chubby, a 12-year-old Staffordshire mix with one eye and persistent incontinence issues, his heart was immediately broken. “Chubby only has a few days left before the assholes at the shelter kill him to make room for more unwanted animals,” wrote Jerome when he shared the post. “I wish I could adopt the poor guy so he doesn’t have to live out his last days in a crowded shelter, but unfortunately I don’t want to. If I did, I would 100% love to give him a forever home. But again, I just don’t feel like it.”
Seeing photos of Chubby’s goopy eye socket and leaky rectum absolutely broke Jerome’s heart, and as someone with a vast fenced-in yard, a stable full-time job, and ample free time for walks and playing, his circumstances are pretty much ideal for taking in a pet in need of a home, if he were so inclined to do so. Yet as badly as he wishes he could convince himself to want to adopt an elderly disabled dog with costly medical and dietary needs, Jerome’s deep compassion is sadly outweighed by his overall contentedness with his comfortable, generally burden-free lifestyle, which unfortunately is incompatible with having to worry about a gross, old, sick dog all the time. But if there was any way he could adopt Chubby without any inconvenience or having to put forth any real effort, he’d be at the shelter in a heartbeat.
In response to his Facebook post, many of Jerome’s friends applauded his willingness to contemplate taking Chubby into his home, with several mentioning that they, too, wish they could adopt the dog but unfortunately could not due to reasons they didn’t specify. But it’s nonetheless heartwarming to see so many people showing genuine, hypothetical compassion for an animal in need.
See? There is still plenty of good in the world.
With so many stories of murderers and criminals in the news every day, it’s important to amplify stories about people like Jerome who would save an animal from certain death if they had literally any motivation to do so. Thank you, Jerome, for making us all a little less cynical and for being a light in a dark world.
