Among the Bird-Brained, Size does not Matter.

I look out my window. In the distance two birds on a wire. I assume
they are mates. One presumably the female is smaller than the other
who sits within an inch by her side to her right.

Suddenly, a larger bird comes in for an abrupt landing about two feet from
where the love birds sit. The female, startled, moves closer to her male
partner who moves about three inches farther down the wire from the
menacing bird. The female scurries in closer to him for protection.

The big bird to her left slowly inches his way to his easy target.

She turns her head to her mate and mutters something. He does nothing. She
turns, looks at the big bird before turning back to her mate to make another
plea. Nothing.

She gives up, leaves her mate behind and flies to safer ground on a wire a few
yards away.

She waits for her lover to follow. He does not. Is he passive, passive/aggressive,
not intimidated, stupid?

She flies back to sit to his left again. This time, knowing or merely assuming
that her mate is weaker than she, she defies all fear, bravely turns and faces the
big, bad bird twice her size. She eases her way closer to the big guy who by some
miracle, senses her fearlessness, and makes a beeline out of sight to safety.

Great idea, Wayne Pacelle

How perfect to back Michael Vick on his campaign to talk to youth about
the criminal lose/lose situation of dog fighting. Imagine if other convicted
criminals--rapists, murderers, factory farmers, Wall Streeters, etc.--
were, as a community service, ordered to inform wannabe criminals about
the rewards of redirecting their career choices...if only in a dream.

Thousands Might Die because of BO

Barack Obama, there are thousands of pure bred hypoallergenic dogs
in shelters across this country that you rule.

Thanks to you, millions of Americans who never even heard of a
Portuguese Water Dog will now be inspired to create a huge market
for them to be born into thanks to your acceptance of Ted Kennedy's
pampered "rescue dog".

Remember the movie, 101 Dalmatians? Audiences around the country
ran out of the theaters to fill their shopping carts with Dalmatians.

Remember, a few months later, most of those Dalmatians were then
sent to death row in shelters around the country? You know very
well that a majority of Americans tire of their new toys as quickly
as they break their word as a matter of convenience.

Regarding the welfare of animals, you are as without heart as
Sarah Palin.

And you know what statistics say about people who abuse animals.
(Your flip remark about the new White House pup being a "rescue dog"
was patronizing to voters, and it was extremely insensitive to the pain
and suffering of non-human animals .)
Not too strong a comparison for me to make about you when one
considers the consequences of your decision, a careless choice
apparently derived solely from your frontal cortex.

Mitigating Dachshund was Too Embarrassed to Shout

Had to set things straight with Sweetgrass this morning.

She finally agreed that from now on when she needs to make a 'lump sum deposit'
that, instead of hinting with a soft hardly audible growl from the other room for
me to hurry and lift her off the bed in time, she will, from this day forward, insure
getting my fast attention by using the same piercing yelp she has a habit of
employing whenever she wants a treat.

Of course she did rebuttal at first by telling me that a loud bark would contract
her muscles thereby speeding up the 'deposit process' before help was on its way.

Ask Any Barking Dog

Like any animal, humans have an innate capacity for empathy: the ability to feel
in our bodies what someone else is feeling in his/her own body, i.e., 'silent'
suppressed emotions.

Sometimes, when I cannot manage my sudden rage by expressing it through
non-violent communication, I shout it out instead much to the chagrin of
whomever is within earshot; the good news is, the discomfort lasts for a very
short time for both me and my 'victim(s)'.

As unacceptably hot-blooded this method might seem to you, isn't yelling kinder
and more honest as a last resort? Isn't it healthier for everyone than the
'civilized' way of suppressing rage in our bodies for an agonizing length of
time? Keeping rage out of earshot is sure to wilt the well-being of those around us
as well as fester disease in those who would never allow themselves to 'look bad'
by expressing it.

Next time your dog barks at 'nothing', ask if s/he's venting something that needs
to be released in you.

Recycling Pain...

This morning I woke up far from a teardrop of joy in my eye.
I felt anchored to the bottom of the sea with lead in my heart.
If I ever feel depressed, I have no other choice but to breathe
deep within to find the cause of my misery.

Usually, it's caused by my thoughts about 'poor me'. But often
'my' depression has to do with someone in my life who is feeling
bad from his or her own creation of self-pity. I usually call
whomever I suspect for a reality check and get a yes, s/he was
down about this or that.

But this morning when I checked in to see why I was feeling so
awful, I saw in my mind's eye a pig factory farm. As my heart
zoomed in closer to get a better feel, I saw the misery of these
poor, intelligent empaths condemned to suffer a horrid life in our
self-made Dante-esque Infernos.

If my little dachshund 'empath' feels and then reflects back to me
my pain and my joy, perhaps I could recycle the pain that I feel
emanating from the pigs - including the pain I feel 'for' them - into joy.
Would these empaths then feel the joy?

Would you?

Absolutely.

A World No Longer Run by Half-Wits

Some of us connect more easily with animals, nature and each
other because we have opted to allow our intelligence to thrive
naturally in circular all inclusive whole-brain patterns of thought
free beyond the limitations of exclusive linear logic used by men
and women thinking solely from the considered masculine half of
their psyche.

If Humanity is ever to embrace our inherent Wholeness, we
would need to begin by holding dear to us our connection to the
rest of 'Creation' by finally catching up to them in Evolution.

Our pets can show us how.