From here in BC, where both good and bad people live, many people are traumatized by the needless slaughter of innocent beings in Whistler. Why did they do it, why did they murder so brutally all those wonderful trusting creatures? Because the light of their empathy for all life was crushed by the pressure of their own expectations of material wealth. Because people, even good people, under enough stress are capable of incredible wickedness. There are many kinds of terror, many kinds of fear but no easy solutions.
As i sit here petting my dog Pancho with one hand and typing with one finger of the other, i realize we all have a choice every minute between our good and bad selves, we are all capable of wickedness. So too are we all capable of choosing to step into our fear, to act out of empathy in the face of terror, it's each person's choice each moment.
Partly it's what we see happening around us, but mostly our choices between good and evil are determined not by external forces but by our own inner view of those happenings. There is good news, there is light, there is love, compassion and empathy in the world. Today my best friend and i did our walk in the park, it's always the best part of our day. It seemed like "everybody and their dog was there" as one lady joked. We laughed and talked, listened to the roaring creeks, breathed the oxygen filled air. We met folks with puppies, folks with older best friends, in the park this morning our life was perfect.
There's other good news too, other good people doing deeds large and small everywhere. Some are the doctors and researchers who are trying and learning everyday just how little we know and trying to learn more. One headline in the western press today says Early bowel cancer detected by dogs in Japan. A Labrador retriever has sniffed out bowel cancer in breath and stool samples during a study in Japan, The dogs sniffed out bowel cancer in more than nine out of 10 cases. "The specific cancer scent indeed exists, but the chemical compounds are not clear. Only the dog knows the true answer”, says Dr Hideto Sonoda Kyushu University. i'd add 'to a lot of things'.
Dogs can show us the true answers to a lot of things, they are our teachers, if we'll listen. Dogs live in the moment as part of the totality, they love unconditionally. We have a lot to learn, as a grandparent, i hope its not to late.
Cancer-Sniffing Dogs, Making Sense of the Research
Dogs 'sniff out' bladder cancer
