A Tiny Shift in Perception: Walk in the Paws of…

Oh my! Wheels are moving by rapidly in front of my eyes. I can’t keep up. So many feet everywhere. My ears hear so much noise…

 I would love to run back to my little basket to sleep with my bone. It’s very scary.

My owner and I are at a busy intersection in the middle of Hollywood. What’s that? There, that terrible noise! Oh! A big board on wheels is coming straight at me! I jump out of the way and get caught up in the dumb leash. I try to hide behind the leg of my owner. He looks down and shouts at me: “No! You do not hear sound! Do you hear me? HEEL, now on my right.” A big yank from the leash follows… Ow!

Hey, please, Master, watch it! That board almost hit me. I am so scared… noise everywhere… Help me. Can you hear me? Help me, please…

This is seen through the eyes of a little pup, maybe 5 pounds. The owner shouted so loud to the dog that I and everyone else waiting at the intersection could hear it!

Myself, I cannot say I like the skateboarders that come at us on the sidewalk either. What is it in this owner to be so unsympathetic with his little dog? When I had crossed the sidewalk, I stopped suddenly and said, “I got it, by God, I got it. We want to be right, more than anything, even if we have to use our authority to get it done! The little pup had to accept the righteousness of its owner… The pup was on a leash, so he had no escape from the fear of (a) the board and (b) the owner.”

I was so struck by this display on the street as it triggered very vivid memories for me. The hand that feeds us is also often the abuser… Can we teach humanity to put themselves instantly into the other person’s situation before reacting to the situation? In other words, truly walk in someone’s shoes for a few seconds, or, in this case, little paws. Do you think we can teach this?

Our perception of a situation is all we have. All of us, every living, breathing thing on this planet has it’s own perception. Just shift your perception truly for a few seconds to see into the other being, and, voila, you would never be unkind ever again. You would get to see in these few seconds such fear, such paralyses of all the senses that it would touch your heart and immediately open the floodgates of your compassion.

Think the next time you are about to react…

Thank you.

Gabriella