Can old dogs learn new tricks? Buster, our twelve year old Basset Hound, is at the upper age limit for Bassets, although he seems to have quite a few years in him yet. He has fears, like most dogs, but Buster is unique in that they are ill-placed. For instance he is terrified at the sound of fireworks and thunder, things that are loud but never with anything to fear. On the flip side, he has no fear of cars and trucks and other moving vehicles coming directly at him. He is noted wherever we live as the dog that roams the street. Many a times we\’ve heard honking outside our home and witnessed a car stopped dead in its tracks with Buster in front of it, wondering what the big deal was. Poor drivers, many end up driving around him. As I\’ve mentioned in other blogs, Buster is a smart, but stubborn breed and is the most difficult to train. We\’ve tried to teach him to stay out of the road, but he ain\’t going there, so we wince and look away when we see a car coming at him…if he has a guardian angel, that poor dear has to be exhausted…
You may judge us for poor dog ownership, and I concur, we are terrible dog trainers and gave up trying long ago. We love Buster and he is spoiled rotten, just not trained well…
Last week I witnessed something new, though. Buster was in the road, looked up in alarm and quickly trotted to the side of the road. Sure enough a car was coming. That was a first; I\’d never seen Buster react in this way to this kind of threat. Finally, I thought, he is realizing it is dangerous to roam the road! Somehow, some way, he had learned to fear something that should be feared, something that was quite dangerous and that threatened his life. Woo hoo!!
How about the rest of us? Some of us roam the road assuming we\’ll never get hit, that it can\’t happen to us. We flirt with addictive substances, risky behavior, immoral acts and assume it hurts no one, that we\’re not the worse for wear, that living on the edge helps us feel alive. We pollute and defile, without realizing all those who stop to try to save us, and all the others who take their cues from us. We assume the road is our domain, that there is nothing to fear, that we\’re invincible, and will live forever. Those who try to help do not understand, they cannot see what is so clear to our eyes–that life is a game, a slight of hand magic trick, a party without end. Feeling good is paramount, unawareness is key, oblivion kisses each instant.
To recognize truth is terrifying, so we stay in La La Land, trying to keep fun bubbling up. We recoil at facing our own stupidity, our own stubbornness, our own arrogance, our own emptiness…
Maybe, though, Buster has something to teach us, even in our later years…it is safer off the road, life is less stressful off the road, others are not forced to stop when we\’re off the road, no one worries about us when we\’re off the road, we can model how to do life well off the road, nasty consequences are averted when we\’re off the road. We have a choice to step off the asphalt and frolic in the grass, chase butterflies, bask in the sun. Even late in life God gives us the chance to learn new tricks, to learn ways of living where we can breathe easier, embrace reality with clarity and hope, stand with integrity and purity.
Chaos has its way when we roam the road, it smiles when others have to stop and funnel energy into shooing us off the road, it smiles when brakes squeal and horns blare, it smiles when others look and see and follow our lead, it smiles when others suffer when we roam, it smiles when we pollute and kill our very souls, and even, unwittingly, our very lives.
We may think our life is ours to waste, to stand in front of oncoming cars with, and that is true. Life is a gift that God has given and He gives us free choice. Just like Buster, though, ain\’t going to go stand beside him as he roams the road. No, he is on his own, will not cuddle up to that behavior. If you find yourself standing alone in the middle of the road with a truck oncoming, it may be time to realize the danger, to realize what you are doing to yourself and those around you. Those who care can scream at you to move, can offer off road options, can point to the One who delivers and heals, but we cannot make you move, you must choose to move. Please, dear friend, move…for God\’s sake move!
Looking for God 
