helly

"Written by Shakou
For Bandit


Ode To The Rat


This is my tribute to the rat. A creature so misunderstood and unfairly judged by people, it often faces injustice, yet goes on living it's life with no regrets. This is in honor of the rat, an animal that people choose not to know, and yet if they did, what they would find would be a mesmerizing, hypnotic, and beautiful creature whos eyes brim with an intelligence and wisdom far beyond any human's years.

This is for the lab rats, who day after day are put through the most unspeakable tortures. That are injected, ripped apart, and mutilated all in the name of science. Who live out their entire lives in a lab, never once to see the light of day, or live the life a rat should, all to help out mankind. People often don't see that it is you guys that give up your lives to make cures for illnesses possible, but I do. This is for all the pain you go through, the terror you feel, the bright lights beaming in your face and that hard cold table under you, and the feeling you get as you sit there, knowing whats going to happen.

This is for the rats that are the results of careless breeding. Who's family line has been so inbred, you can guarantee there is going to be defects. For those rats that end up in a petstore feeder bin, cramped in little cages with 50 others just like themselves. For those rats that end up in the grip of a snake as food. This is for that fading light you see as you take your final breath, and for those that refuse to take that final breath and hurdle themselves forward into the snake's body, teeth bared and hissing; if you're going to die, you're going to die fighting. That in my eyes has to be the greatest display of courage in the animal kingdom. To look into the eyes of a predator, ten times your size, and launch yourself into them, refusing to give up. I salute you for that.

This is for the rats that are lucky enough to find homes. For those that know forgivness and that not all people are alike. Those that are willing to give mankind a chance and to brush their cheek in friendship. For those that greet their owners as they come home, clammering excitedly onto the side of the cage, eyes filled with admiration, excitment, and love. This is my tribute to those rats who sit on a broken hearted, lonley owner's shoulder, chirring softly into their ear with pure rat affection, never once asking "why?"

As rat owners, we feel the deepest love and the most unbarable pain that we could in a life time, for one tiny creature; a creature who brings us to life and makes us awe at the beauty of the world around us. When hope seems lost, they give us a reason to keep going and never give up. They show us the purest form of unconditional love and bring us the greatest sense of joy any person could possibly feel. They endure so much but forgive so easily.

And that to me is the greatest gift on Earth. God bless the beautiful rat."

















R.I.P Ernest.