It truly is a Dog’s life
You could call me Moti. Or Snowy. Or Rover. It doesn’t matter. As long as you’re nice to me, I’ll be nice to you.
I’m a dog. A stray dog. And I stay at a condo in a swanky city you humans call Gurgaon.
I am everyone’s favourite. Everyone likes me, in fact they adore me.
Because, depending on the situation, I can be cute, angry, protective, friendly and loyal.
That’s not how it began though. Life as a street dog is not easy. I’ve worked hard to get where I’ve got.
It is a dog’s life, after all!
And through the constant churning of life on the streets, with what you humans would describe as a limited intellect, here are some secrets I learned along the way.
Never bite the hand that feeds you:
I live on the goodwill of people who stay at my condo. They shower me with love and provide me with food. It is my duty therefore, that I am nice to them. I would never bite them, because I know what being grateful means.
Love & appreciate those who are good to you:
They are more important than anything or anyone else in the world. I take the effort, bounding happily to them with a big smile on my face and a wag of my tail. That way they know how much I appreciate their love and kindness. If I were cool to them, they’d very soon lose interest in me, feeling that I really don’t need their love. Who’d be the loser then?
You cannot please everyone:
Everybody does not need to be nice to you. Live with it. There are many people who live in my condo, who are outright nasty. They throw stones at me, kick me around, accuse me of being a burden on society, living off the pity of others.
These are people who judge the world by their narrow thinking and stubborn ways.
I choose to ignore them.
To such people, I can only say… I forgive you, because someone as blinkered and blind as you, can only pray for salvation from the suffering of an ignorant life.
Learn the value of tolerance:
The condo has many other dogs, both stray and domesticated. I get along with everyone.
Unlike my stray brothers and sisters, you would never see me going ballistic every time one of those snooty hoity-toity pets walks by. I just smile and nod a simple hello to them, and get on with my life. It may be my territory, but they have a right to live here too.
Life’s tough enough anyways. What’s the point in making enemies?
Be Worldly Wise:
Every friend is not a dog. And every dog is not a friend. I have been able to see people and dogs for what they are and not what they claim to be. You may call me wise. But I’d call myself sensible.
These are a few of the lessons of my life. The lessons that have kept me alive in a world where the odds are stacked against creatures like us.
Maybe they’ll help you too?
But then, most probably they wont!
Because humans are the only creatures on earth, who have such an advanced intellect.
An intellect that overshadows instinct and common sense. An intellect that would prevent them from seeing the wisdom in the simple words of a dog.
The funny thing is that those with an ounce of sense, would see the value in my learnings from life. That simple thoughts, simple words and simple deeds, can give you everything you need to live a happy, fulfilling life.
In the complex maze of the understanding of self-realization that we have created, those who are evolved know well, that the truth is in simplicity.
Spell me backwards and find what you should be looking for, instead of living your shallow materialistic lives.
And realize, that just like the omnipresent being it represents, you and I, belong nowhere, yet belong everywhere… belong to no one, yet belong to everyone.
It is a Dog’s life, after all!
photo credit: MendezEnrique via photopin cc
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