pure intentions

Sleep-deprived and at the point of exhaustion, I allowed myself the luxury this morning of finishing a great book, "Marley & Me: life and love with the world's worst dog" by John Grogan. It's funny and heart-warming and real. It's also heart-breaking, so I spent the last few chapters in tears, especially when the author quoted these words that were sent to him by "Elaine" after Marley's death: "Such short little lives our pets have to spend with us, and they spend most of it waiting for us to come home each day. It is amazing how much love and laughter they bring into our lives and even how much closer we become with each other because of them." And here are some of Grogan's own reflections: "It was an amazing concept that I was only now, in the wake of his death, fully absorbing: Marley as mentor. As teacher and role model. Was it possible for a dog - any dog, but especially a nutty, wildly uncontrollable one like ours - to point humans to the things that really mattered in life? I believed it was. Loyalty. Courage. Devotion. Simplicity. Joy. And the things that did not matter, too. A dog has no use for fancy cars or big homes or designer clothes. Status symbols mean nothing to him. A water-logged stick will do just fine. A dog judges others not by their color or creed or class but by who they are inside. A dog doesn't care if you are rich or poor, educated or illiterate, clever or dull. Give him your heart and he will give you his. It was really quite simple, and yet we humans, so much wiser and more sophisticated, have always had trouble figuring out what really counts and what does not. ... Sometimes it took a dog with bad breath, worse manners, and pure intentions to help us see."