I rolled out my green Spiritual Gangster Guru Mat the other day for a home practice. As I settled into my first down dog, over comes my 4 month old rescue puppy Gibson. Still too young to lift his leg, he stood still and in super slow mo I watched him pee all over my mat. I couldn’t help but laugh. Anything little Gibson does is just adorable. But puddles of foreign liquid on the yoga mat, 9 times out of 10, are just awful.
Tell me if you’ve endured the following. You are practicing yoga in a sweaty yoga class, and the teacher says, “Warrior 3.” That smelly man in front of you sticks his foot in the air. You watch drops of sweat leave his ankle hairs and fall down on your mat. Coming out of Warrior 3 to place your hands on the mat for standing splits, you navigate to avoid touching that foreign liquid as ferociously as you’d steer clear of a drunk man in a speedo.
One drop of the wrong person’s sweat on my mat could drive me crazy. But I would gladly let my dog kiss me on the lips even though he licks his dog berries after lunch. Is something wrong here?
*****
In March 2002, eleven people abandoned a 260 foot ship about 800 miles south of Hawaii. They left the captain’s dog, a terrier named Hokget, adrift at sea. People caught wind of this story. Money started pouring into the Hawaiian Humane Society which paid $48,000 to a private company called American Marine to look for the ship. Air, sea, and high-tech surveillance equipment were all pressed into service. No luck. Finally, 6 weeks later, after the Coast Guard agreed to access $250,000 US taxpayer dollars, the dog was found…shaken, scared, but still alive hiding under a pile of tires. (See above picture of Hokget, with sun-burned nose, upon his safe arrival in Honolulu on May 2, 2002) When $300,000 is spent to rescue a dog but nearly 1 in 4 children across America are struggling with hunger, does that seem weird?
There’s one thing that us humans are suckers for. Receiving unconditional love. And humans, barring saints or nuns, don’t love unconditionally. We just don’t. Piss off your husband and he won’t jump in your arms and lick your face. Punish your teenager and chances are slim she’ll cuddle you one second later. Being this is my first dog since early youth, I’m realizing what a gift it is to have a bad day and look to Gibson for a good, slobbering smooch. Everytime we’re kissing I can practically hear him say, “It doesn’t bother me one bit that in most of your Facebook pictures you have a double chin. I just wanna love you and love you and love you some more.”
Is it me or is that worth over $300,000?
thats why i dont go to bikram…
Dave–I loved this story and your take on it. You are entirely right. We don’t love unconditionally. Unfortunately–I am without a doubt empathically connected to everyone I love, but I have a hard time with those whose intentions are less than good. It’s true.
I’ve really enjoyed watching your relationship with your new 4 legged unfold. There is nothing quite like the level of joy you can observe, and there by engage in yourself, that come from just closely observing a canine loved-one, and how they affect us. It’s one of my most cherished joys. And one I always go back to when I’m feeling less than unconditionally loving. There’s a reason, I think that GOD and DOG are spelled with the same letters. I wont spell it out, but thanks for giving us a glimmer of your relationship with your new pal. Man berries and all.