Big-hearted

So I had dinner with the girls the other night at a restaurant situated on a small quiet street and though our table was virtually on the sidewalk that only added a certain Mediterranean charm to the scent of the lime-tree sheltering us and the cheerful international chatter coming from the other tables.

As we sat a woman walking her Yorkshire terrier passed us by and, to my great and unpleasant surprise, one of the girls indiscreetly threw out “Now that’s one funny dog!” To me he wasn’t funny; in my eyes he was lovely-just as any other dog would be. However I didn’t get a chance to word my objection because one of the other girls said there were only two breeds she had respect for: the German Shepherd and the Golden Retriever. “Oh, come on”, I said, “you can’t be serious!”  And there was nothing simulated about my disbelief. Over the years of our friendship I became so comfortably accustomed to her high preferences for clothes, shoes, bags, cars etc rubbish that her snobbery is nothing but an amusement to me now but I didn’t know it stretched onto living creatures as well. “Anyway,” I went on “if I am to have a dog again it would be from a shelter or a stray dog I’d take in from the street but it would definitely be a mongrel.” And no one at our table believed me! WTF?! What is so obscene about bringing love and affection into the life of someone unwanted? Do only the Beautiful Ones deserve happiness? That’s not a question but rather a lengthened sigh of resigned disappointment.  

t’s a mystery to me why dogs are so boundlessly and unconditionally fond of people to the extent of sheer idiocy. Stray dogs especially. If a human should go through half the misery they have to put up with that human would end up times and times more beastly in nature than real beasts. A few days ago I saw two characters outside my office building sleeping on the grass. I’m sure even their mothers wouldn’t find them pretty. It was obvious they hadn’t had a day of wine and roses since birth. And yet they were adorable jovial creatures who seemed ecstatic about me petting them. Those five minutes with them were the happiest time I had for the entire week…even month.