Thursday, May 15, 2008

personal missions, or HERO RATS

So part of the Thomas Jefferson Education philosophy is that everyone has a mission in life. I'm trying to define/encapsulate my own mission, but in searching around for resources, I found this woman's blog entry about "passion equals mission". It's a great read, but even if you aren't interested, you have to check out this FRONTLINE special on Hero Rats. You may have heard of them before--I have. They detect landmines and are also being trained to detect tuberculosis. Amazing. I think next Christmas I'll be sponsoring some Hero Rats in honor of some loved ones.

6 comments:

Blue said...

knowing how you love animals (and people too), i wonder if it's hard to think of animals being used to improve the lives of humans in medical research and things like landmine detection.

btw: want a free kittie? ♥

Native Minnow said...

I think it's great that they're able to use rats for that. I'm assuming they're small enough that they don't trigger the mines, right? Even if I'm wrong, I'd rather it be a rat than a child.

Debra said...

Wow, that is one of the strangest things I've seen in a long time. Brilliant! Who thought of that?

I have no doubts you know your passions. Shouldn't be too hard for you to come up with a mission. But what I'd like to know is how you form a mission statement when you have a severe case of OCD and are only passionate about putting things in containers.
:)

mindy said...

blue--sadly, no, we are at our maximum capacity for pets! are the kitties ready for new homes? you should post pics! I am okay with certain levels of animal research, really. But it is such a broad spectrum, and some of it is really unnecessarily cruel. I don't support animal testing for things like cosmetics and shampoos and such, and try to buy cruelty-free as much as possible.

NM--yeah, the rats don't trigger the landmines, which is good. They really are amazing little critters. but even as an animal lover, I agree that it is better a rat than a child.

debra--yeah! very cool! i'm sure there is some mission that involves putting things in containers...i'll get back to you on that! :o)

babygonzo said...

Min, I just watched the video on the hero rats...AWESOME! I, for one, would be HAPPY to help sponsor a little critter or two with you =)

mindy said...

glad you liked it, babygonzo. :o) we should definitely do it...someday in the future when i have money again! smooches!