There are many ways to teach a child how to be compassionate, but one surefire way of doing it is adopting a pet from a rescue facility.
These little animals are desperate to be loved.
Take Eddie, for example, my daughter, Karah's, 5-year-old Shih Tzu. Karah adopted him from a rescue shelter when he was 3. Eddie, deaf and blind, was skin-and-bones, his long hair matted. He was terrified when Karah first saw him. Still, she fell in love with him and, within days, Eddie fell in love with her.
Eddie is amazing. He can do most anything any other dog can do. In fact, he can do something most dogs can't - Eddie climbs trees.
While our family was shocked at this dog's abilities, my grandchildren, Tilleigh, 10, Evie, 6, and William 4, were impressed as heck. They saw that Eddie's disablities didn't define him. And, like their aunt, they fell in love with him.
So it came as no surprise that when the children and their mother, Kacee, my oldest daughter, heard about the dozens of animals recently rescued by the Humane Educational Society of Chattanooga, they visited the shelter and adopted two dogs, a Chinese Crested and a Chihuahua, named by the children, Bitty and Sprinkles, respectively.
Estimated to be between 6 and 10 years old, Bitty and Sprinkles had never been out of the small kennel they shared before being rescued. Years of being confined in the tiny space resulted in Bitty's limited ability to use her now deformed back legs.
The dogs also suffer from a number of maladies ranging from severe malnourishment to skin problems and numerous benign tumors. When you pick up either of the dogs, you feel like you're holding a bag of rocks because of the many tumors.
Yet, these are the dogs my grandchildren chose.
They understood the dogs required special care, but what they knew the most was that the dogs needed to be loved. And man, oh, man, do these compassionate little kids love these dogs.
When you're given food, water, a home and love, you tend to be happy. Today, three weeks after being adopted, Bitty and Sprinkles are, indeed, content. They've gained weight. They play. And they run - even Bitty, albeit somewhat spastic. Soon, they'll reach a healthy weight that will allow them to have surgery to remove the tumors.
The dogs are happy because three children - and their mother - have hearts filled with compassion. I couldn't be more proud.
Contact Karen Nazor Hill at khill@timesfreepress.com.