Today I sat on my deck that faces out on the lovely green common area of my condominium development and enjoyed my coffee.
One of my neighbors was walking his three large dogs as he usually does across the grounds.
As each one deposited its fecal package on the grass, he dutifully picked it up and deposited it in a plastic bag he was carrying.
That's devotion.
There is no way in hell I would pick up pounds of dog shit and tote it around till I got to the dumpster.
As I was driving home one day not too long ago, I saw another neighbor walking her German Shepherd and also carrying a large clear plastic bag in which I could see the mass of dog crap the animal had deposited for his mistress to pick up. I came very close to vomiting.
When I was a child growing up in Manhattan, you were ankle deep in dog shit. Nobody cleaned up after their pets. It was everywhere. You might even have suspected that it was trucked in during the night because where could all the dogs be to produce that much crap?
I could not be so devoted to an animal that I would "pick up" after it.
Of course, I did have a cat for seven years and I cleaned his kitty litter. That was pretty disgusting too come to think of it.
So, to all the pet owners who pick up the poop, I thank you. That you love a creature enough to do that is something I'll never understand.
2 comments:
I'm reminded of an archeological theory I came up with years ago:
Notice when things go wrong the most common utterance is. "oh shit".
My theory is that this is one of the most common archetypal responses of the human species.
Might be the link between pre-humans and humans.
In effect our first "insight".
Slowly but surely as organisms in the evolutionary scheme of things became higher functioning, along with it was the general sense that one should avoid the disease ridden droppings that were everywhere around.
Finally with the cave man this sense was of paramount importance and communiated with a variey of grunts, groans, whistles and hand signals.
The moment when the transition to being human was finally made was the day when LANGUAGE was born with all it's inherent ability to reflect on the past and to warn of the future.
The first words that were on this level of insight was when Grug was out hunting with Mroki one horribly hot August morn when the heat cooked the poop to its highest potential disease ratio and despite all his efforts to be careful to avoid all danger, in his haste to kill and capture a prized Mastadon, he did indeed step in "it", the waste of the Giant Water Rat, the most lethally toxic of all doo doo in the Land.
In that moment, he saw all. He saw the need to warn future generations. He saw also his quick and certain demise.
That was the flash of being truly human.
The proof of my thesis was the words he used to bring it all together. Words that have echoed through the canyons of our lives through time immortal. Words of regret. Words of warning.
Listen now. Listen to your soul. Quiet now. Do you hear the words Grug used on that fateful morning?
In truth, OM is not the universal sound. When all is silent it is the sounds of Grug, stepping into the future that abound:
Do you here that universal scream in your own existance?
If with sincerity you are able to tune in, you will:
Hear the words of Grug. Hear them now:
OOOOHHHHHHH SSSSHHHHIIIIIITTT!!!
Yes, that is what it is.
Plain and simple we're always stepping in it. Bad times cannot be avoided.
The end is always approaching.
As "shit" happens.
And the best we can do is what our humanity enables us: to use language: to label it.
Plain and simple:
"OH SHIT!".
let me see if i got this straight, anonymous is saying that true humanity was not achieved until the first utterance of "oh shit".
moons, where do you dig these guys up?
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