Robert Baden-Powell

Robert Baden-Powell was a turn of the century British Army officer and founder of what would become the Boy Scouts. It is he that famously wrote “ Try to leave this world a little better than you found it, and when your turn comes to die, you can die happy in feeling that at any rate, you have not wasted your time but have done your best”. As I have gotten to the point in my life where I have more years behind me than ahead of me, I think more about what I have accomplished with my time. Will I be leaving the world a better place than I have found it? In truth, I don’t think that is my call to make, only others can decide if I was that kind of person. And in my case, the others may be farm animals. I have decided (rather late in life) to spend my remaining time trying to give our residents the best life possible. A life void of harm and exploitation and full of love and rubs and lots of carrots. In return, I get to hear them call out to me when they see me and come to me when I enter their area. I get to experience our young donkey Gerry come running knowing full well that he always misjudges how much distance he needs to stop and inevitably runs into anything in his way! I get to hear our baby rooster, Roo, trying his hardest to crow only to sound like a squeaky toy. So, I don’t know if I will leave the world a better place than I found it. I will certainly not have the impact of Mahatma Gandhi, or Albert Einstein or Nelson Mandela, I am just some guy that is going to give a few farm animals a good life. And along the way we will share some laughs, some tears and many fond memories. My hope is to just make their world a better place than they found it.