Ian O'Doherty: The uplifting tale of a man, his pet rabbit and a new hero for our time
It was, frankly, a story that brought quite the lump to my throat -- and from talking to my usually hard-hearted mates, I wasn't the only one who reacted like that.
I'm referring to the case of homeless 38-year-old man John Byrne, who has been on the streets since he was 14 -- which is bad enough.
But what made his plight so poignant was the story that broke earlier this week.
When I first saw the headline 'Man Jumps Into Liffey To Save His Pet Rabbit' I actually laughed --after all, when it comes to random headlines, you don't get more random than that.
However, when I actually opened the paper and read the piece, an altogether more heartbreaking story emerged.
Byrne was walking along O'Connell Bridge last Sunday evening when an 18-year-old came up behind him, grabbed his beloved pet rabbit Barney and threw it into the Liffey.
It was an astonishingly horrible and cruel thing to do and Byrne did what many people who love their pets would instinctively do -- he jumped into the river to save Barney.
He could quite easily have died, in fact the odds would suggest that this would indeed be the outcome, but the fact that he would put his own life on the line to save the creature shows the levels of his innate decency and he even gave Barney the kiss of life when he got out of the river to help revive him.
When he was talking about it afterwards, he said: "Barney and Lilly my dog are my babies. I'd do the whole thing again if it happened. If the person that threw Barney in can do that to an animal, think of what he could do to children."
Now, personally, I've never been convinced by the argument that society should be worried about someone hurting animals because that indicates that they could go on to hurt people -- for me, it's bad enough that they hurt the animal in the first place. But even that comment from Byrne shows that despite the deprivations he has suffered in what must have been an incredibly difficult life, he still has empathy for human and animal alike.
So, apart from the obvious reasons, why was I so touched by the whole thing?
After all, there are hundreds of homeless people in Dublin, and I pass by many of them every day without giving them a single glance. Indeed, when I see healthy guys my age begging it drives me bloody mad. I'm not the kind of bloke who would sneer and tell a beggar to get a job -- but that doesn't mean the thought doesn't often cross my mind.
No, the reason I was genuinely moved by this was because, by his obvious love for his animals, he ironically became humanised in my eyes.
As a society, we have become so used to seeing these people, the homeless, the destitute and the beggars that they have become mere shadows on the edge of society; shambling figures to be ignored or worse, treated with contempt, derision and scorn.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not going on some bleeding-heart liberal will-someone-think-of-the-children rant here -- even I am not that much of a hypocrite.
After all, I feel exactly the same way as most of you.
But there was something incredibly moving about the picture of John and his furry friends in this picture -- sad, poignant, heartbreaking and yet also strangely uplifting.
Here's a guy who, after 24 years of living rough, has been thoroughly discarded by a society that gorged itself at the trough for much of those years and despite being left behind, he has managed to find some sort of peace through the companionship of a rabbit and a dog.
And it also proves that there are few things truer than the old adage about clothes not making the man.
For while he may be dressed in standard homeless garb, he obviously has infinitely more grace, dignity and most importantly, honour, than any of those flash-suited bastards who have brought us all to our knees.
After all, how many of us would risk our lives for a creature we often eat in a stew?
But, you see, you don't need to be an amateur psychologist to see what these animals represent to him -- pride and self-respect as well as the more simple emotion of basic love.
Most of us have a built-in need to love something, whether it be another human or another creature; we have a desire to love, to protect and form close bonds and given the fact that most dogs would kill a rabbit on sight, the fact that Barney and Lilly are best pals shows that this need for companionship and affection are not traits exclusive to humans, no matter how many deluded and arrogant people seem to think so.
Yet despite the profoundly moving nature of this story, the fact remains that it was caused by an act of outstanding cruelty.
And therein lies the rub -- are we basically, inherently, decent no matter what the circumstances, like John? Or are we basically bastards like that little shit who threw Barney into the river (Oh Lord, I pray, give me five minutes, a dark alley and no witnesses with him)?
The truth is, of course, somewhere in between and at least John, Barney and Lilly are safely -- well, as safe as you can be on the streets -- and happily back together.
So I'll finish on this note: John Byrne, you might be homeless, you might be voiceless, you might have been forgotten by society -- but you're my hero.
