SILENT TEACHERS

As a dog unimportant things like TV, video games, or branding a business do not distract me. This gives me more time to notice life’s REAL important things that most humans never see. In particular, I love spying the silent teachers that only God in heaven seems to recognize. These ‘teachers’ remind me of the tooth fairy. They stealthily sneak under a pillow and do their good deed (leave money for a kid who loses a tooth) and vanish. No one sees the good they do.

Let me tell you about some of the silent teachers I notice.

When Jet (my foster mom) is at work, she often leaves the window open in the guest bedroom so I can sit on the bed and watch what goes on outside. One day we had a B-I-G storm and the trashcan that belonged to the humans across the street was blown down. It’s contents spilled all over the street. One of the white-haired humans from three doors down (Jet calls them seniors) was taking her morning walk and saw the mess. She turned back home and came back with gloves on and picked up all the trash. I’m the only one that knows what she did.

Jet and I were on our way to the doggie park EARLY one morning when it was still not quite light. Jet pulled over to get some coffee. I stuck my head out of the window and enjoyed the cold morning breeze while Jet was inside. A car driving by stopped in the middle of the road just beyond the coffee joint. A strange, large looking critter – an opossum - sat in the lane in front of the car lights. The driver leaped out of her car and tried to scare the opossum out of the street which is when she realized the critter had been hit. He looked perfectly normal on the outside but he was really broken on the inside. The lady went back to her car, took a bunch of bags off the dry cleaning in her back seat and made a sling to pick up the opossum without touching him. She placed him gently in the backseat and drove to an animal emergency center (open 24/7) on the corner down the street where she took him inside. No one knows but me.

A man down the street had knee surgery. He has a tough problem getting around and no one to help him. He told my mom that he was worried about losing all the hummingbirds he loves to feed because he can’t reach the feeders with his bad knee. Jet looked up to find them all full and asked how he solved the problem. He said ‘he’ didn’t. Every three days he wakes up and their full again. It’s Jake, the shy man who lives around the corner. He fills the hummingbird feeders about 5:00 in the morning when Jet and I walk. No one knows but me.

So, here’s my lesson of the day… TVs, video games and computers that spat noise at humans all day don’t teach you nearly as much as these silent teachers that don’t say anything at all. And the lessons I learn from them (kindness, unselfishness, compassion) are the most important lessons for all of us.

Okay, here’s the question of the day from Sherman who asked: Why is it that humans get a pillow but dogs don’t? It just doesn’t seem fair.

Hey Sherman:
Dogs do have pillows. – Better yet, they’re in the shape of a bone. See examples below. Your humans will LOVE the pillows too because they are very designer-like but made just for canines just like you. Enjoy!

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