Are people fundamentally good? Thomas Hobbes maintained that people were totally self-centred, while Jean-Jacques Rousseau was totally committed to the theory that people were fundamentally good. Hobbes was English and lived in the 17th century. Rousseau was French and lived a century later. Could that indicate both were right in their national experience, or perhaps that people can change dramatically in 100 years?
This past week we’ve once more experienced the goodness of people. We’ve watched people go out of their way to support and help a stranger without expecting anything in return, in all weathers and at all times of the day and night.
It all began last Saturday afternoon near a beautiful country park created around lakes historically made by mining subsidence. The Leeds and Liverpool Canal enjoys a well surfaced wide towpath and runs along one side of the park.
A man was out walking his own dog and that of his daughter. His a Rhodesian Ridgeback, a large dog that you see people actively give way to on a towpath if it’s off the lead, his daughter’s, a French bulldog, short, stocky and one that rarely people give way to. Both were off the lead. As they approached a crowd of people at a trading boat he lost sight of the “Frenchie” as it disappeared amid the human legs.
Within half an hour it was apparent the dog was missing. His daughter was alerted and the family began searching. As they searched they asked others, including boaters in the many narrowboats along the towpath. That’s how we came to hear about Frank also known as Frankie and officially Franklyn.
His owner knocked on the side of the boat to ask if we would keep an eye open for him. We set off with Boatdog (firmly on a lead as I didn’t want to lose her too) to make a search. Our hope was that as his owner said he loved other dogs, that he might come to us and we could then put a lead on him and bring him home.
As we walked we asked other boaters, bird watchers, cyclists and dog walkers to keep their eyes open. Others walking the other way we’re doing the same and within a few hours a huge number of people were actively searching for a dog most of us had never met, owned by someone we didn’t know. Those among us who enjoy the privilege of having a dog in our lives can imagine the horror we would experience if our dog went missing, but lots who helped were not dog owners.
In late afternoon boaters with drones on board had put them up in the hope they could spot Frank but by night time there had been no sign of him. His family imagined he had been confused when he couldn’t find them, and had wandered around possibly in circles. Armed with torches (and one girl told me “I carried a baseball bat just in case – it’s so dark out here!”) they toured the park in teams stopping to barbecue in the hope that would bring Frank trotting out of the undergrowth snuffling towards the deliciousness wafting towards him. Aboard Preaux, Boatdog’s dreams were probably laced with sausageness!
One of his familiar blankets lay outside our boat, others were spread around in the area where he disappeared acting on the principal that he was likely to try and return to the place he last saw familiar humans. Once traffic on the towpath died down, I scattered a few dog treats on the blanket and went to bed hoping that when we awoke the blanket would have gone, and Frank would be sleeping soundly back in his own bed.
Sunday dawned and the sight of Frank’s weary owner and friends wearily still patrolling punctured my optimism. Like other boaters I set off for our morning walk with renewed purpose, taking a different route to the night before. I carried on spreading the word of Frank’s disappearance to runners and walkers I met and as many times as I told someone, someone told me. Such was the sense of community that by the time I was walking at the end of the day I didn’t encounter a single person who didn’t know. A lost pet drone charity came out but the lush tree cover across the site made it difficult for them to categorically sweep areas.
Sunday night saw the family and friends still out, now armed with a tent and flasks, and on Monday tracker dogs and a thermal drone came to support. All the while lost pet charities and boaters (those who had been there from the start of his disappearance and those who had moored up since he vanished), bird watchers, walkers, runners, cyclists, horse riders and the park staff were still out searching and spreading the word of Frank’s disappearance. Not knowing how he was was eating away at those who loved him as any pet owner would imagine.
Also on Monday we went up and down the canal with our boat, looking at the steep concrete sides as we did en route to the water point. I’ve seen a leggy roe deer drown in there this year because they couldn’t get out, so I feared a stocky short legged Frenchie would have had no chance. We saw nothing.
Then on Tuesday a neighbouring boater walking alongside the canal on their way back from the shops found his lifeless body floating. They notified his family and managed with difficulty to get him out.
It is devastating that this much loved pet has died, and died so unnecessarily. A relief perhaps to know that he hasn’t been stolen, sold, or remains lost and terrified, but heartbreaking also.
What has struck me most about this awful tragedy has been the multiple ways in which it showed Rousseau was right all those years ago – humans are inherently good. When we see others in pain, the majority seek to alleviate their suffering by searching, offering warmth, shelter, food, and hot drinks through the night together with vital words of comfort and compassion. The transient boating community played an important role in this awful situation, as it has the capacity to do in all the communities we pass through, and I am so proud to be part of such a caring, considerate group of people. Yes, there are always one or two who shun involvement, as there are in any community, but the majority step up and keep stepping up.
We may be transient, but as individuals we can bring a ray of hope and help wherever we travel if, and when, it’s needed.
Pickingupducks 