Sunday, November 06, 2005
Friendship, Fellowship, And Fun
Cheri Bushee inspires me. And I'm not just talking about her BOS at Holland Lop Nationals this year either, though that is certainly very wonderful, and I was exceedingly pleased for her. No, as I got a chance to talk with her at Convention, I heard this wonderful, inspiring story.
Cheri had gotten discouraged with showing rabbits. No, not because of the rabbits, but because of strife among exhibitors. No matter which district you live in, that part of the story might sound a little too familiar to you. No matter what we do in life, if people are involved, there will be conflict, I'm afraid.
Cheri seriously considered getting out of bunnies altogether. And then she did something remarkable - something rarely done these days, I fear. She sat down and thought about what was really important to her. Well, maybe she stood up and thought about it. I really missed that detail.
Now, I say that this is rare these days based on my own life and experiences, and I may be totally wrong. But life comes at us very fast these days. We live most often in reaction mode. We don't have much time to stop and reflect and purposely choose a different path. And we are even less likely to carve out a chunk of time from a busy life to think about what is really important to us.
Of course, rabbit breeders do have an advantage over many other people in this busy life. We do have our barn time, feeding out bunnies, slowing down for a bit. That's a great time to think about what is really important in life.
So this is what Cheri asked herself, "What do I want to get from my hobby? Why do I really do this?" And the answer crystallized in her mind: friendship, fellowship, and fun.
Cheri and some of her friends have begun making that their campaign, of sorts, to spread the word and help folks refocus. Almost all of us can agree that friendship, fellowship, and fun are three of the best things we get from being in bunnies.
There are also a myriad other great reasons to do bunnies. If you take a few moments to reflect - why not do it right now - I'm sure you can make a short list of your own reasons. In addition to friendship, fellowship, and fun, maybe your own list includes a few of these:
The Nature Trail Rabbitry
"Home Of Grand Champions"
http://www.thenaturetrail.com/
http://www.thenaturetrail.com/blog/BLOG.html
¶ 8:57 AM
Cheri had gotten discouraged with showing rabbits. No, not because of the rabbits, but because of strife among exhibitors. No matter which district you live in, that part of the story might sound a little too familiar to you. No matter what we do in life, if people are involved, there will be conflict, I'm afraid.
Cheri seriously considered getting out of bunnies altogether. And then she did something remarkable - something rarely done these days, I fear. She sat down and thought about what was really important to her. Well, maybe she stood up and thought about it. I really missed that detail.
Now, I say that this is rare these days based on my own life and experiences, and I may be totally wrong. But life comes at us very fast these days. We live most often in reaction mode. We don't have much time to stop and reflect and purposely choose a different path. And we are even less likely to carve out a chunk of time from a busy life to think about what is really important to us.
Of course, rabbit breeders do have an advantage over many other people in this busy life. We do have our barn time, feeding out bunnies, slowing down for a bit. That's a great time to think about what is really important in life.
So this is what Cheri asked herself, "What do I want to get from my hobby? Why do I really do this?" And the answer crystallized in her mind: friendship, fellowship, and fun.
Cheri and some of her friends have begun making that their campaign, of sorts, to spread the word and help folks refocus. Almost all of us can agree that friendship, fellowship, and fun are three of the best things we get from being in bunnies.
There are also a myriad other great reasons to do bunnies. If you take a few moments to reflect - why not do it right now - I'm sure you can make a short list of your own reasons. In addition to friendship, fellowship, and fun, maybe your own list includes a few of these:
- To experience the pride of accomplishing the difficult task of producing a great rabbit
- To make for yourself a "happy place" close to home in your barn - a place to take a break from life's stress
- To spend time with animals
- To satisfy your need to nurture and provide care
- To travel
- To spend some quality time with your children and/or spouse
- To take a break away from your children, spouse and/or regular responsibilities
I am willing to wager that nowhere on your list is make an enemy, get into an argument, be insulted, be excluded from the group, watch people be rude to each other, cheat or be cheated, steal or be stolen from, be inconsiderate or have others be inconsiderate to you.
There's an old song Accentuate The Positive, Eliminate The Negative. I know in my heart that any group of people that comes together because of their common love for such a beautiful creature as the Holland Lop has the potential to accentuate the positive - friendship, fellowship, and fun - and eliminate the negative.
You've got to accentuate the positive
Eliminate the negative
Latch on to the affirmative
Don't mess with Mister In-Between
You've got to spread joy up to the maximum
Bring gloom down to the minimum
Have faith, or Pandemonium
Liable to walk upon the scene
The Nature Trail Rabbitry
"Home Of Grand Champions"
http://www.thenaturetrail.com/
http://www.thenaturetrail.com/blog/BLOG.html
¶ 8:57 AM
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Laurie..this has to be one of the most worthwhile post to read in your entire blog because it is bringing out the stuff we dont want to hear about but need to read...good job! we should all work on this one a little more and rabbit shows would be a happier place for everyone!
# posted by 
: 10:35 AM
: 10:35 AM
Amen to all the above. I know that I may never be at the top in showing, but I know that every show I go to, I can enjoy showing my bunnies, being with friends, and learning new things. And some days you have luck on your side and win, and that makes it even more special. But it's all about the camaradarie. And I remind myself every time I find a dead baby of how much fun it is to find a nestbox full of fat healthy ones. You can't win all the time, but you can sure enjoy the "dance" as Garth Brooks sang in his song.
# posted by : 1:44 PM
: 1:44 PM
Laurie, your article here couldnt be more timely for us. For just yesterday our rabbitry was attacked. By coyotes near our house? No. By raccoons which we often see? No. The source: another breeder. We are very new to rabbit breeding and raising. We had an incident occur with a rabbit. We got advice from some local breeders that helped us get started. The breeder with whom the incident occurred was not willing to work with us in any way. We were ok with that and understood very well the position of the breeder. This was six months ago. Saturday we received an email directed not to us, but to many top breeders smearing our name. I three times asked what we could do to correct the problem for this breeder, and each time the breeder would respond and become more and more critical and more personal going so far as to tell us we were bad parents, we shelter our kids etc, yet she knows nothing about our family, our children or how our rabbitry is run. Its a shame that there are people like this out there. We dont plan to stop, our children plan to continue showing. Its good to hear that there are those like yourself and Cheri, that want showing and breeding to remain competitive and yet friendly and fun at the same time. I hope that we will get to meet more people like yourself. Keep up the good work.
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# posted by : 12:28 PM
: 12:28 PMLinks to this post:
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