Sometimes when one or a few persons are struggling to run their small shelters, it seems as though their efforts are so much striving against the windmill-sized unassailable giants of the abuse, neglect, and indifference among the general public; especially against domestic ferrets, for whom, as creatures in distress, who need care all their brief lives, each shelter-person of every sort is their defending Knight. Sometimes just the day-to-day workload, if you have no volunteers to help, can break these hidden heroes down into feelings of wanting to give up (So FIND a needy shelter and Do volunteer! Know that there's very probably one close to you, and struggling mightily!) Sometimes, especially for some of the unsung heroic single-person shelter operators, it seems that solvency alone is an impossible dream. Yet it's better to live striving the Impossible, every day. Better to reach up for that star, always with the other hand down beside you to catch hold of the love ever there, in the small, furry forms of the very ferrets you're sheltering, who will bolster your up-reaching. And when you've nearly attained that star, bring forward the loving creatures who helped you attain it! So that they might be the first to touch its brilliant beauty... To dream the impossible dream To fight the unbeatable foe To bear with unbearable sorrow To run where the brave dare not go To right the unrightable wrong To love pure and chaste from afar To try when your arms are too weary To reach the unreachable star This is my quest To follow that star No matter how hopeless No matter how far To fight for the right Without question or pause To be willing to march into Hell For a heavenly cause And I know if I'll only be true To this glorious quest That my heart will lie peaceful and calm When I'm laid to my rest And the world will be better for this That one man, scorned and covered with scars Still strove with his last ounce of courage To reach the unreachable star [Posted in FML issue 4697]