I just posted on my facebook page 2 videos from the conf in Oct. 2010.  Well worth reading.

You can go to my facebook page or go to Best Friends.  Really makes you think about what is important in life, and is all this rescue infighting worth it?

I used to be associated with a rescue friend who was so two faced, but I didn't realize it until she turned on me.  And she has turned on me many times since, in very hurtful ways.  But she has a following who believes everything she says.  You know, money does talk, and she uses hers to talk a lot!

The same with some family members.  After my parents died 10 years, siblings who were much older and didn't have much to do with me suddenly wanted to run my life!  And still do!  They have hurt me in ways I didn't believe possible.  Makes me gladder than ever that I live in another state and I rarely "go home".  I don't because I cannot trust them anymore.

The title of the speech at the NMHP conference was "Life is Short, Make Your Time Count".

"Several weeks ago, at Best Friends’ No More Homeless Pets Conference, I spoke about the impact of one’s life and the time that we’ve been given…and our choices about how to best spend that time.   

Over the course of the last year, my life has taken a dramatic, threatening turn. 

I’ve had plenty of occasions for reflection. The simple fact that I’ve got one shot at this thing called life was delivered to me hard and fast, but it was easy for me to split that delivery into two categories:  I can spend it focused on tearing other people down and stewing in a pile of negativity, or I can spend it on raising the world up.  It was time for me to pull a big dumpster up to my life and empty everything into it that didn’t matter and everything that was a source of negativity and hatred. 

Translating this message into our work for the animals…life is too short to waste on negativity and the kind of infighting that has too often characterized our movement.  We must set aside discord and conflict within the animal welfare movement.   It only does a disservice to our greater cause and keeps us marginalized in the mainstream public agenda.  This means leaving behind the bash and trash language that generates plenty of heat but not much light.

There is another slice to this, which is, of course, Best Friends’ belief that kindness is the most powerful and transformative arrow in our quiver. Kindness is and always has been our centerline.  We are under no illusions that there were and still are people in animal welfare, animal rights and animal shelters who could care less about saving lives, but anger and negativity only creates entrenched opposition.   There are many more clever ways to create change than a full frontal, negative public assault.  Make no mistake, kindness is not weakness or compromise, it is powerful and transformative while negativity is an addictive black hole of wasted energy.

As our movement grows and new advocates  join in the cause, it’s our duty to reiterate the message of kindness. The easiest and most normal response to the injustice and pain that animals suffer everyday is anger, aggression and in-your-face messages about dead animals. What is missing from that calculation is the understanding that for years, prior to the success demonstrated by the Best Friends’ message and approach of kindness, activists and organizations routinely featured barrels of dead animals in their public appeals and railed against the entrenched power of the establishment. It went nowhere. The primary effect was to turn off the public and push our movement to fringes,

If we are to effect real change, we need to mainstream our message and the cause of No More Homeless Pets. To do that, we must understand the very simple lesson that I’ve learned over the past year. It takes strength to be gentle and kind to each other…life is short, make it count. (Click on the images below to watch Part One and Part Two of the closing speech.)"

Julie Castle

Here's the Link to the Videos:

http://blogs.bestfriends.org/index.php/2010/11/16/life-is-short-make-your-time-count-2/