Conflict between obedience and compassion
The incident took place a few years back, during my posting at an air force unit. I was assigned with the additional duty to oversee the unit’s kitchen. Though, it was not a full-time duty, I was required to be present during inspections. This place, being a food zone, attracted stray dogs in all colours and sizes, freely roaming around the place.
During one of the inspections, all was going well till the CO pointed towards a dog moving with five puppies. He instructed me to throw them away, otherwise they will carry on multiplying. Now, for me, this was an instruction that I couldn’t afford to ignore. I discussed the issue with the staff for a solution. We approached a sweeper to get rid of the dog family, but he declined to oblige us.
The matter was not over. It was a big issue for me. This was CO’s viewpoint. It carried a meaning. If not done and the CO happened to see the dog family again, that would have adversely affected my ACR. The point took a priority position in my mind.
The thing was to happen one way. I just approached one of the trainees to carry out the task. The youth, like me, too followed the principle of blind obedience and readied immediately. We put all puppies into a gunny bag. Luckily or unluckily, the mother of the puppies was not around at that time. We left them on the other side of the boundary wall. Two three village boys watched this act from a distance but did not utter anything. We came back satisfied.
In the afternoon after lunch, as I was relaxing in the room, I started thinking about what we did with the puppies. Perhaps the puppies wouldn’t survive as they were too small. They were too young to find food on their own. They were not safe either. All these thoughts made me uncomfortable. The sin of separating kids from the mother weighed heavily on me. The more I thought, the more I sank in sorrow. What could be done now? I spent the restless night. I made up my mind to bring the puppies back.
Next morning, with a harrowing mind, leaving all other tasks, I headed for the mess. Praying God to help me and the puppies. To my surprise, all the puppies were with their mother at the designated place nearby. My eyes could not believe this, and thanked God time and again.
How did they come back after being abandoned behind a 8-ft wall. I stood staring at them with guilt. The mother looked at me and there was complaint in her eyes. As if she was telling me, “Sir, yesterday someone stole my puppies. They are very dear to me and I can’t live without them. It is very bad, you know.” There was a silent communication. I stood like an accused and kept listening to what she didn’t say.
I was bound to confess that I am the person responsible for her troubles. I felt sorry in my heart and pleaded for forgiveness. I brought some food and kept it near her. She casually looked towards the food and turned her head away, as if telling me, “Food is no problem, Sir, I only want my right to live in peace”.
I left the place and started thinking how this wonderful return happened. She might have located them by listening to their wails or through smell, but I had no clue how she managed to scale the 8-ft wall and bring the puppies back. This would have been a difficult task for her, I thought. Or the village boys might have kept the puppies on this side of the wall. I thanked the boys, in case they did so. Whatsoever, I knew having escaped a sin that otherwise would have pained me for the rest of my life.
HAD I NOT THROWN AWAY THE DOG AND PUPPIES, MY SUPERIOR COULD HAVE TAKEN OFFENCE AND SPOILED MY ACR