Dog Encounters
OK, obviously this is not Part II, Mental, in my series that I started in May. I’m still working on it.
On my runs sometimes I like to have a dog encounter. On this run as I was going through a nature park a few miles from my house, I met Ebony and Charlie. I don’t have a picture of them, so I used my dogs, but their coloring suits the content of this blog, i.e., black and white. Maybe it’s a bit of a stretch, but I’m trying to illustrate a point here and underscore the comments in the quote that follows. Personally, I know all about racial bias, having grown up in the south in an era where segregation existed. Being judgemental I think comes naturally to most of us – I know I struggle with it.
Ebony and Charlie’s owner was leading them across a bridge where I had stopped to catch my breath and stretch. He was an older guy like me, but fit and obviously enjoying his outing with his dogs. I asked if I could approach his dogs – Charlie, a mixed breed of sorts, was very friendly, but Ebony, a black lab, was a bit skittish, so I backed off. He told me that Ebony was recovering from his own encounter and was a bit nervous about people approaching him. Apparently someone on the trail had overreacted and kicked Ebony. The dog wasn’t seriously hurt, but the incident had left an impression on the dog. Am I leading up to some profound message here? Perhaps. The following song might help too.
Paul McCartney, All the Best album: Ebony and Ivory
What’s It About?
Ostensibly, a good friend of mine inspired this blog post. He had posted what I thought was a very engaging and thought provoking item on Facebook. His suggestion was to copy the post, add a selfie, and share it. What he had presented in his post was not a brand new concern of mine and was something brought to my attention often these days, but anyway, listen to the song, then take a few minutes to read the following quote and really think about it.
Editor’s Note: Unfortunately I don’t have the author’s name for this quote.
“If you’re skinny, you’re on drugs. If you’re fat, you need to lose weight. If you smoke weed you’re a druggie. If you drink, you’re an alcoholic. If you get dressed up, you’re conceited. If you dressed down, you’ve let yourself go. If you speak your mind, you’re rude. If you don’t say anything, you’re snobbish. If you are sociable, you’re a party animal. If you stay to yourself, you’re detached. If you are young, you are useless, if you’re old you’re dispensable.
YOU can’t do anything without being criticized. We live in a society where people can’t survive if they’re not judging the next person. Love me or hate me, but you will never change me. Believe that, get to know people before judging. Let’s build each other up. We are all doing the best we can, in the same game called life.” (Anonymous)
Here is an Imprimis link to a piece by Amy Wax. She discusses “political correctness” and similar issues. If you don’t have time to read all of her January 2018 piece, go to my previous blog, under Parting Shots, where I summarize Amy Wax’s article.
I decided to keep this blog short, but give this some thought.
Quotes
“What we do for ourselves dies with us, what we do for others in the world remains and is immortal.” (Albert Pines, from a Criminal Minds episode)
“Don’t be intimidated by people who seem to be experts. Hear their points of view and get their judgements. But at the end of day, you’ve got to make a judgement because it’s not their life that’s going to be affected so much as your future.” Robert Dallek
“I tend to make snap judgements about people.” Jane Fallon
For more “judgemental”, quotes (and many others), you can go to the BrainyQuote site.
Random Odds & Ends
This is a “rerun” of two links in my early 2019 blog, “Is it 2019 Yet?” Some things are worth repeating at least once, in this case to bolster the whole “helping others mindset”.
Also, another veteran-related link. You can ignore any ads.
Looking for a Rufous 
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