Tuesday, 19 March 2024

 Georgie PURCELL (Northern Victoria) (14:47): People often say you do not appreciate what you have until it is gone, so today I rise to talk about Greta. Every morning Greta would wake the house up with a jarring bark. The time changed every day, but it was always before 7 am. Sometimes it was 5 am. Every now and then she would decide a little bit earlier that she needed breakfast and she needed it now. After she spent the majority of her life on a puppy farm, deprived of love and kindness, who was I to say no? I would set my alarm every day, but I knew I did not actually need it – I had Greta. But then Greta suddenly and unexpectedly died the night of the government’s decision to not ban duck shooting.

In the days and weeks that followed, I really found myself questioning my purpose. I would wake up in the morning and ask myself ‘What’s the point?’ I had put everything I had into something only for it to fall apart. With that, I struggled to get out of bed, and it made me reflect on how I would have no choice at all if Greta was still around. Now I regret all of the times that her jarring bark in the morning annoyed or even angered me; I would do anything to be rattled by that sound again. These are the ways that animals give us purpose in a way we often do not realise, sometimes not until they are gone. If you have a furry member of your family, please appreciate every little moment that you have with them.