Serving Up Kibbles on a Silver Platter

It's been a while since I have visited my blog site. Been in rehab of sorts...depression from losing my fight with the State Park over shrinking and fencing the dog park...and destroying my dog adventure business by limiting it to a 3 dog rule. I miss our adventures and the crazy lessons born of my friends' canine capers. Koda, my border collie and I have resorted to sneaking out in the open space in our valley (at the risk of rangers' incarceration if caught) to at least share in the freedom of off-leash delights. Something tells me that life lessons will still be erupting from our dogged determination to experience life off of a leash!

For example. Just this morning as Koda and I greeted the sunrise, he sniffed out the fresh scent of the ubiquitous coyote who scavenges the neighborhood for any remnants of food he can forage. Ticks Koda off! Their dance routine is the same each day. A chase, some angry barking and a sort of stand off as they go their separate ways. Tangles between Koda and the coyote have become less and less loaded with animosity over the last few weeks. I'd like to claim credit for this as a result of my laborious lectures to Koda aimed at evoking compassion in him toward his wild counterpart. After all, coyotes don't get their meals served up on a silver platter. They actually have to work for their food. If they don't work, they don't eat. Have some understanding of their dilemma, mi perro! Koda just tips his head from side to side in puzzlement at my verbosity, then plunges his muzzle into his silver bowl as he bolts down his dished up delicacies.

Life lesson? Empathy does a long way towards resolving conflicts. My mom's old adage was, "don't judge a man until you've walked a mile in his shoes." Being young I saw that as a sure-fire case for athlete's foot. Now, aged and experienced, I see the value of that bit of leathery wisdom. I must admit that I love it when others try on my shoes before they label or judge me. But our default mode is to take pot shots at another before we have any idea from whence he or she comes.

A man on a subway train was sharply criticized for not controlling his 5 kids as they ran wild through the car. Dazed, he apologized as he explained that he was coming from the hospital where his wife, the children's mother had just died. He was in shock and at a loss to know what they all would do without her. Who knows what pain lurks beneath the impatient, peculiar or even irresponsible actions of others. Perhaps it is a distracted driver who swerves into your lane as he worries about his home being repossessed. Or an unresponsive teenager who has just been abandoned by her best friend. Or an empty coyote stomach that would long to punge his muzzle into a silver platter full of pre-pared food.  We can't know from a distance, so let's be a bit more gentle in our judgments and less quick to bark or bite.