Dog Days of Summer

Dogs, Charming . . . Their Owners, Tedious I couldn't sleep last night. I kept thinking about the little dog I saw yesterday. He was a cute, little, blond thing with big brown eyes. He couldn't have weighed more than 15 pounds. And he was almost dead. He had been locked inside a car while his owners were inside . . . having pancakes and coffee. It was a steaming hot day, 90+ degrees. The car was parked in the middle of a parking lot. No hope for shade, just baking in the sun. Can you imagine sitting in a hot car like that for so long? The police were called. They made pleading announcements in the restaurant, imploring the owner to get out to her car, "Your dog is dying!" No one came forward. Spoons continued to clank in the cups, syrup continued to pour. Even once the police came, nothing. Not until the window was broken out of the car. Then the owner showed up. Upset about the window. She didn't run up and grab her semi-conscious dog from the officer giving him water. No. She, instead, proceeded to scream at the policewoman about her smashed window. Her argument? The window was open a bit at the top and the dog was fine. Unbelievable. The exasperated policewoman asked the crowd of spectators how sad we all felt about the window. Ha! The crowd was ready to run that woman out of town. The woman was probably lucky there were police there, lest she be left in the hands of an angry crowd. The policewoman asked whether any of us wanted to take up a collection for the woman's window. I stepped up. I offered to pay to replace her window. Yes, I did. In exchange for her dog. She actually thought about it. And Animal Control let her keep the dog. The things we do to the smallest among us.

Life is life's greatest gift. Guard the life of another creature as you would your own because it is your own. On life's scale of values, the smallest is no less precious to the creature who owns it than the largest. -- Lloyd Biggle Jr.