The Glory that is Dog

By: Darin Lowery

As my Grandma used to say, there’s just too much fussin’ in the world today. Fussin’ about money and fightin’ about politics. The biggest uproar- and it’s gone on forever- is the argument about A Supreme Being. The Catholics and Muslims, the Jews and the Buddhists all have the answers- so do the Episcopalians and Baptists. Even the Agnostics and Atheists weigh in from time to time.

I’ll be the first to tell you that I do not have a religious background. My Mother was rabidly anti-Catholic, having been taught by the good nuns. She walked away with an abhorrence of basic black, though she did develop beautiful handwriting. My Dad considered himself an intellectual who was above the fray. My first visit to church was to attend a wedding in 1977; all I remember was how cold the church felt. After a couple of drinks at the reception, I warmed up and quickly forgot about it.

The arguments and hysteria over religious issues have largely passed over me. This pleases me, as pamphlet-toting Christians and suicide bombers aren’t folks I necessarily want to hang with. If you have to convince me how perfect your beliefs are, why hit me over the head?

Alcoholics Anonymous has a great take on this, and it’s called ‘attraction rather than promotion’. This means that because you see proof of someone’s life changing (your pal, formerly a hardcore boozer, hasn’t thrown up in the backseat of your car lately) you’ll want to learn more about the organization and how he was helped. If you’re a drunk and you’ve been through Hell already; you might not worry so much about going there later.

The mystical anagram that is GOD/DOG has been noted by many- mainly sixteen year old boys after smoking their first joint. Because I am first and foremost a pragmatist (seeing is believing, therefore it exists) dogs are my subject of worship. Let’s call it my own personal dogma. It makes as much sense as worshipping a deity.

We all need faith: it’s what gets us through the good times (they won’t last) and the bad times (this can’t go on forever). My personal faith relies on the basics: the sun will come up and go down; the moon will rise when it becomes dark. My dogs will bark at the mailman, even though they’ve seen him every morning for the past five years. And on the day of an unexpected windfall (“I found twenty bucks in the Safeway parking lot!”), my refrigerator (with sixty dollars worth of just-purchased groceries) will break down.

Life can be inconvenient, heartbreaking and just plain messy. Like anyone else, I’ve been in some tough situations. I have survived. My faith- it’s the only word I can use- has pulled me through. It is the faith- the belief- in the power and compassion of other people, of the abilities I never knew I possessed until I needed them, that got me safely to the other side. Luck didn’t hurt, either.

So if I want to focus my love and energy on a sweet Border Collie, if the test of my compassion comes down to how I treat an aging Labrador, and when I try- and sometimes, it is trying- to be a kind, concerned and loving human being in a sometimes hostile and all too often indifferent world, well- that’s my choice.

That’s my dogma.