4 lessons in humanity I learned from a non-human
Let me pre-empt this with my puppy, Tove, is an imperfect puppy. She whines constantly at the thought of her kennel, her walk performance is terrible, and she still doesn’t grasp the concept of not peeing on the carpet. Despite all these faults, I have come to the realization, that she is a better ‘person’ than most of us are.
- She loves people, and most importantly EQUALLY. Everyone in her eyes are candidates to lock eyes with and run into their arms to be pet. I’ve watched this tiny creature give a man in a full three piece suit a hand tongue bath, and then immediately paw to get to the homeless woman for a belly rub, and who I am to stop her from spreading her unparalleled joy for people? Color, gender, sexual orientation, social status and religion don’t exist in her world. I wish we all could see past the outer shell of one another.
- Grudge? What’s that? Tove hates going into her kennel, she barks and throws a royal fit. Yet, when I come home and open that cage door, she is so over whelmed with pure happiness simply to see me. She doesn’t care she has been in captivity the past 4 hours, she just wants to be near me again and give me the love she has been storing up. We have gotten to a place in society that we are hostile if we don’t get a text back in 45 minutes. Somehow animals are better at forgiving, dropping it, and moving on.
- Tove has the ability to make people’s days. Countless times now, people will pet and play with her over excitable self and say something along the lines of “oh my, that made my day thank you!” Which is heartwarming to hear, but we have forgotten one thing. We are all born with the ability to make someone’s day in some small way, but we normally choose not to for whatever reason. It can be as simple as looking up and smiling at someone, giving a genuine compliment, or taking a little extra time to have a conversation. It really is as simple as running up to someone and licking someone’s face. Well, maybe start with a smile first.
- Inclusion. It’s a beautiful phenomenon I’ve gotten to witness through my dog. One person will stop, (rather my puppy accosts someone) to pet her, and several other bystanders will join. People that normally wouldn’t have stopped, let alone interacted with one another do. Between Tove running in circles around the numerous hands, people ask questions about her age, how old and her breed. I see the little Tasmanian devil I let live in my apartment create an avenue for conversation between unlikely people. We can all do that, there is no reason we must reside ourselves to one social group. Belong to none, and belong to many
Finishing this, she is curled next to me and am thankful for all her unintentional thought provoking moments. No doubt though, she is resting up to tear up my favorite shoes again, but I guess I’ll let it slide.
