On Sunday, let's remember people, pets alike

With the passing of each day, it’s easy to be bogged down by the routines and inconveniences, forget how fleeting the moments really are and how fast the time truly passes — and all too often it is only in retrospect that we realize just how little time we actually have with our critters.

Alas, they have such short life spans in comparison to ours and next to the human potential of multiple decades; the typical pet gets a little more than

In search of ponies

one, maybe two if they’re lucky.

They take on the role of best friend, companion, never-ending sources of amusement and, through caring for them, give us purpose and a sense of accomplishment. Unique even among the relationships humans hold with one another, the place that pets fill in the lives of their people can be unrivaled.

And when they go, the grief and loss can be profound.

While loving pet owners work to be sure their charges live long and healthy lives — taking precautions, watching out for their safety, providing quality food and preventive healthcare — even with the best of care and greatest love, having pets means someday losing them.

It is because of the special, yet all-to-temporary, place pets hold in the lives of their people that over 40 years ago, the second Sunday in September was designated as National Pet Memorial Day.

Set aside as a day to remember and celebrate our pets, whether living or deceased, Pet Memorial Day is about acknowledging the importance they have to us and the ways in which they enrich our lives.

This year, Pet Memorial Day also happens to fall on the 15th anniversary of Sept. 11, a day on which nearly 3,000 people were killed and thousands more injured by coordinated terror attacks on American soil.

There simply is no comparing the significance between the two events that happen to share the day Sunday, and the tragic loss of human life on 9/11 casts a large shadow over a celebration of pets.

If there is, however, a way to reconcile the dual emphasis of the day, it might be found in taking a moment to remember the animals impacted by Sept. 11, many of whom risked their own lives trying to save the lives of humans.

Guide dogs Salty and Roselle are credited with saving the lives of their blind owners, both of whom were working in the World Trade Center at the time of the attacks. Not only are they credited with calmly leading their owners from Tower 1 through the smoke, debris and chaos that claimed so many, Roselle also guided approximately 30 other survivors to safety that day.

In June, 16-year-old golden retriever Bretagne was euthanized. Two at the time of the attacks, at her death she was the last known surviving search and rescue dog to have worked in the recovery efforts immediately following 9/11.

Even in retirement after spending most of her life in rescue, Bretagne served as a reading assistance dog and worked with special needs students.

Stories such as those of Salty, Roselle and Bretagne are a small representation of the estimated 400-or-so service, search and rescue and comfort animals that took part in the aftermath of 9/11.

For each of those animals, the number of human lives they positively impacted with their own short lives will never be known.

Animals live as members of our families, work to enhance and save human lives, and they suffer with us too, experiencing our tragedies as their own — something worth remembering Sunday, and every day.

Sharna Johnson is a writer who is always searching for ponies. You can reach her at:

[email protected]