Making It Everybody's Business

“My doctrine is this: If we see cruelty or wrong that we have the power to stop, and do nothing, we make ourselves sharers in the guilt. Cruelty and oppression … is everybody’s business to interfere with when they see it.” – Anna Sewell 

Born on March 30, 1820 in Great Yarmouth, England, Anna Sewell embedded herself in our culture and concern for animals with her classic novel Black Beauty, written in 1877 while she was nearing death from tuberculosis.  It is her only published work. 

           The novel, made into several movies as well, became an immediate best-seller.  Sewell died just five months after its publication, but lived long enough to see its impact and success. With fifty million copies sold, Black Beauty is one of the best-selling books of all time. Although originally written for those who worked with horses, it also teaches us how to treat people with kindness, sympathy and respect.

About people, she noted, “It is good people who make good places.  Never miss an opportunity to tell someone how much they mean to you.”

                                                                                                                                                                                   

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