I was out to dinner with my sister the other night, she is in town visiting me for spring break, and before the meal came out we were playing a little game I enjoy called the Question Game. (A side not about the Question Game, it’s not really a game, you just ask questions back and forth, but if you sell it to people as a game, they are more likely to engage in conversation with you).
In the early stages of the game I usually ask very surface level questions, this or that, would you rather type things. The answers are always fun to compare and listen to, but when I asked my sister what she wanted to be when she grew up, her answer surprised me beyond what I was prepared for.
In the early stages of the game I usually ask very surface level questions, this or that, would you rather type things. The answers are always fun to compare and listen to, but when I asked my sister what she wanted to be when she grew up, her answer surprised me beyond what I was prepared for.
“A cat,” she said.
“A cat?” I replied.
“Yeah. Just you know, blend in with everything.”
And while I know she was totally joking, I think she hit on something fairly close to the heart of our culture. A lot of us do desire to be cats when we grow up, or we have worked all of our lives to become cats, A can is non invasive, a cat completely keeps to itself, you can visit a person’s home for a whole week and never even realize they have a cat because it stays in the basement, or in the garage, lounging it’s life away.
Dogs, however, couldn’t be more invasive and alive. You know someone has a dog before you even enter the house. You hear the frantic barking and know that you are just moments away from getting pounced on pelted with a waterfall of drool. Dogs are also more prone to interaction, they thrive on community and draw themselves into it, with humans, with other dogs, with anything.
Now I don’t want to be crass, but there is a beautifully profound point here, dogs desire to leave their mark everywhere they go. In fact, when a dog steps out into the world it becomes him chief mission to leave his mark in as many places as he can.
A final point about dogs, they love. They love beyond reproach, beyond circumstances, they love and they love without shame.
I am not just saying this because I am a dog person, we don’t need anymore people growing up to be cats in our culture. We need more dogs, be invasive, be communal, leave your mark everywhere, and above all things, love.
-jon
“A cat?” I replied.
“Yeah. Just you know, blend in with everything.”
And while I know she was totally joking, I think she hit on something fairly close to the heart of our culture. A lot of us do desire to be cats when we grow up, or we have worked all of our lives to become cats, A can is non invasive, a cat completely keeps to itself, you can visit a person’s home for a whole week and never even realize they have a cat because it stays in the basement, or in the garage, lounging it’s life away.
Dogs, however, couldn’t be more invasive and alive. You know someone has a dog before you even enter the house. You hear the frantic barking and know that you are just moments away from getting pounced on pelted with a waterfall of drool. Dogs are also more prone to interaction, they thrive on community and draw themselves into it, with humans, with other dogs, with anything.
Now I don’t want to be crass, but there is a beautifully profound point here, dogs desire to leave their mark everywhere they go. In fact, when a dog steps out into the world it becomes him chief mission to leave his mark in as many places as he can.
A final point about dogs, they love. They love beyond reproach, beyond circumstances, they love and they love without shame.
I am not just saying this because I am a dog person, we don’t need anymore people growing up to be cats in our culture. We need more dogs, be invasive, be communal, leave your mark everywhere, and above all things, love.
-jon
