A lot has gone on today. I could be all over the place with this thing tonight.
For one, I am thinking about Word Problems.
If a man is on a train headed toward Salem, traveling at 53 m.p.h., and another man is eating a Pastrami on Rye with extra mayo, traveling on a train going due north at 22 m.p.h., while a third man is in a deli in NYC, eating a Corn Beef and Chicken Liver sandwich on White, how long is the line at the deli at 1:07 p.m. on Tuesdays?
Word Problems. Sometimes they don’t compute. There are more than one kind of word problem, though. I’ll tell you that much right now. You see it a lot on Social Media. I’ve “heard” some word problems today. As hard as I try to understand them… they simply don’t make sense to me. I understand that everyone has their own opinion, and life experiences. Yet. I don’t agree with them. So it gets tricky.
Which brings me to this.
It may sound like a segue. And it is… sort of.
Our little dog Max. Our best guess about her age is 16 or 17 years old. She’s up there. She can’t hear very well at all. She can’t see too much either. Little Max gets confused and can’t quite remember what it is a dog is supposed to do. She weighs a little bit of nothing at this point. Maybe 12 pounds.
So tonight after dinner, I let all three dogs out to their “spot.” As I looked out over our front windows down toward the meadow, I saw about 7 large deer eating at the corn feeder, and munching on apples. Suddenly, all seven of the deer became very alarmed. Their ears pointed back and their necks arched upwards. And in a flash, they bounded away into the tall grasses into vanishing. Why so scared I wondered?
And in that moment, I saw Maxie charging toward the area… full steam ahead. Barking and running like a vicious beast. All 12 pounds of her. And that entire pack, ran in authentic fear. They were panicked, shaken, unnerved. So they sprinted away… all collective 1200 pounds of them. They ran for their lives.
While it may seem absurd to some, their fears were genuine. There is an ingrained need for preservation. They were fleeing from their ancient predators. The wolf, the coyote… the little dog…. all a part of the canine lupus species. So who can blame the deer, really? Max was their terror.
And back to those word problems. I have a problem with words… when people say that others’ fears are not valid. We fear what we fear. It is real to us. We each have are own.
I only wish people would begin to be more compassionate to others’ fears, concerns, worries.
It just seems like the right thing to do. To me.
And when people won’t accept others fears?
If a train is traveling 48 m.p.h. toward Crestview, and another train….
“There are three things all wise men fear: the sea in storm, a night with no moon, and the anger of a gentle man.” ― Patrick Rothfuss, The Wise Man’s Fear