Charlie Bravo here; It’s incredible what you will hear if you take time to listen. Dad and I were once coming through the Ozark mountains late at night. Up in those folds and hollers, cell coverage is spotty at best, and radio reception has to be set on perpetual scan to pick anything up at all. Even then the best you can hope for in that neck of the woods is snippets of “modern” country(yark) or, even worse, “contemporary” Christian. Both of these tend to be rather soul-less facsimiles of the very real types of music from which they both originated.
Not that we’re opinionated.
In the midst of this musical wasteland, we picked up an unknown station somewhere around the tiny town of Mt Judea. It was the rapidly fading voice of a rabbi speaking of “pekudei”, the Hebrew word for counting. But not counting as in simply being numbered, but as each person in the tribe “counting” and being an indispensable part of the master plan. To reinforce this type of thinking, he instructed people to repeat the mantea daily “the whole world was created for me in particular”.
Hello? Pekudei, you say?
As the Queen of the Casa, this is something I can get my mind around. Although at first it sounds a bit arrogant and egocentric, what I took it to mean is that we all matter, and all can make a difference. A person that feels like they don’t matter is much more likely to lead a life without meaning or contribution; why even try to better our own lives or that of those around us if we ultimately believe that we don’t matter anyway? What’s the significance of my one drop of water in a gushing waterfall?
While some might view this view as a bit cocky, my own time in the crate allows me to see it bit differently. As a diva dog that views herself as the most beautiful thing in God’s creation while at the same time being humble enough to realize that I am still a small part of that same creation, I will be much more apt to approach my actions with much more gravitas. This ensures that I live a life that positively impacts those around me. “Non Nobis Solum Nati Sumus” or “not for ourselves alone are we born”.
-Marcus Tullius Cicero, 44 B.C.
Which is why I still take this page so seriously, at least until something fun distracts me; this tends to happen basically every .314 milliseconds. When reading the writings of the great authors, Steinbeck, Twain, Voltaire, etc, it’s easy to get disheartened; why even bother? What can a dog say that hasn’t already been said already, and said better, and said without having to stop to go harass Dad or maybe just nibble my butt?
I have to remind myself that if we all truly matter, then I matter as well, as I’m an integral part of the greater “we”…
…as in “we be of one blood, ye and I.”
Charlie Bravo out.
