MARLEY & ME
Sunday, May 16th, 2010“A PERSON CAN LEARN A LOT FROM A DOG, EVEN A LOOPY ONE UNBRIDLED EXUBERANCE AND JOY, ABOUT SEIZING THE MOMENT AND FOLLOWING YOUR HEART. HE TAUGHT ME TO APPRECIATE THE SIMPLE THINGS — A WALK IN THE WOODS, A FRESH SNOWFALL, A NAP IN A SHAFT OF WINTER SUNLIGHT. AND AS HE GREW OLD AND ACHY, HE TAUGHT ME ABOUT FRIENDSHIP AND SELFLESSNESS AND , ABOVE ALL ELSE, UNWAVERING ROYALTY.”
…WAS IT POSSIBLE FRO A DOG — ANY DOG, BUT ESPECIALLY A NUTTY, WILDLY UNCONTROLLABLE ONE LIKE OURS — TO POINT HUMANS TO THE THINGS THAT REALLY MATTERED IN LIFE? I BELIEVED IT WAS. LOYALTY. COURAGE. DEVOTION. SIMPLICITY. JOY. AND THE THINGS THAT DID NOT MATER, TOO. A DOG HAS NO USE FOR FANCY CARS OR BIG HOMES OR DESIGNER CLOTHES. STATUS SYMBOLS MEAN NOTHING TO HIM. A WATERLOGGED STICK WILL DO JUST FINE. A DOG JUDGES OTHERS NOT BY THEIR COLOR OR CREED OR CLASS BUT BY WHO THEY ARE INSIDE. A DOG DOESN’T CARE IF YOU ARE RICH OR POOR, EDUCATED OR ILLITERATE, CLEVER OR DULL. GIVE HIM YOUR HEART AND HE WILL GIVE YOU HIS. IT WAS REALLY QUITE SIMPLE , AND YET WE HUMANS, SO MUCH WISER AND MORE SOPHISTICATED, HAVE ALWAYS HAD TROUBLE FIGURING OUT WHAT REALLY COUNTS AND WHAT DOES NOT.”
—MARLEY & ME