The Dog Blog

This is my dog. Tito.

I didn't think I would ever be someone who writes about her dog, but here I am. A couple weeks ago, something began to happen to him. It started as a sort of hiccup-y twitch, then shaking. Then he started to walk as though each step hurt, which soon became obvious that it did. For a couple of days, he improved but then, it started again and got worse. Tito is a dog who has two speeds: on and off. You don't go for walks with him; you go for meanders. Sniffing and investigating, joyfully bouncing up to every dog, person, and cat you see, hoping for whatever attention or treat is available. But when this whatever happened, he didn't want to go out; he only wanted to curl up on his pillow. Then, he only wanted find a place to hide -- like under a desk or the back of a closet -- and sleep.

I began to panic. Tito is not an old dog; he turns five on June 24th.

When we first saw him as a puppy, I *adored* him immediately. We were just looking at different dogs as a way to learn about breeds and behaviors. We hadn't planned to get a puppy, certainly not right then. I had never had a dog, never spent time with a puppy, but this little guy.... When I saw him, that was it.

When we brought him home, I assumed that my kids would be his primary companions. No one told me that that's not how it works. I didn't know the rule: you don't choose the dog...the dog chooses you. Tito chose me.

He loves all of us because I think he understands the fundamental truth that love has no size and that he can love all of us 100% and there's still love to go around. But what I didn't expect was that I became his person. You dog people know what I mean.

I have had cats and guinea pigs, both of which I loved dearly and two of whom loved me back in wonderful ways. I had no idea how it could be with a dog. The absolute devotion has ruined me for life.

So, the first trip to the vet was inconclusive. The second trip to the vet, I was adamant: something was wrong; this was not normal behavior. This time, the vet agreed and guessed that it was a tick-borne illness. It I wanted to pay $300 in bloodwork, we could determine exactly which one...OR ... we could begin treatment. Knowing that the antibiotics would be the same regardless, we started. I gave him a pill for pain and a syringe of foul-smelling -- CHICKEN-FLAVORED!! -- viscous antibiotics once a day. 

It took almost a week to see improvement. Today, day seven, my baby is almost back to his old, silly self, so I am crossing fingers that we really got it. Like I said, I didn't think I would ever be someone who either had or wrote about a dog. But this guy...this little ten-pounds of fluff and adoration has changed me.

The world may be a crappy, terrible place much of the time these days. But Lord, there are dogs.

Thank God for dogs.

Mother's Day

Yesterday was Mother's Day. I preached a very brief "sermonette" as I called it at First Parish in Milton, and what I focused on was the history of it, and NOT the idea of chocolate, flowers, and obligatory phone calls to mothers.  Of course, anyone who cares for children should be appreciated regularly. I am not even going to think about how long it will be before this country makes the raising of children and families a priority.

But the interesting thing about "Mother's Day" is that originally, it had nothing to do with what it's become now.

In 1872, Julia Ward Howe -- you know: Battle Hymn of the Republic Julia Ward Howe - proposed an annual Mothers' Day for Peace.  For thirty years, it was honored but only primarily here in the Northeast. A Unitarian, she worked to end slavery, helped to initiate the women's movement in many states, and organized for international peace—all at a time, she noted, "when to do so was a thankless office, involving public ridicule and private avoidance."

Sounds kind of familiar, right?

Part of what I found so moving was a proclamation that Howe wrote in 1870 called the Mother's Day Proclamation. It goes like this:

Arise then...women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!
Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!
Say firmly:
"We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."
From the bosom of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with
Our own. It says: "Disarm! Disarm!
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."
Blood does not wipe our dishonor,
Nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil at the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace...
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God -
In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.

Howe wasn't the only one with these ideas. There were other women working on this at the time. . These women believed motherhood was a political force that should be mobilized on behalf of the entire community, not merely an expression of a fundamental instinct that led them to lavish all their time and attention on their children.

And this made me think of the Women's March on Washington. Strength in numbers? You bet. A call for justice and peace? Absolutely. Peace didn't happen in 1870 but it's too important to give up on.

Your encore for the week? That's easy -- put on your pink pussy hat and get out there and work for a better world for all.

Happy Mothers Day!

Net Neutrality

Okay, friends - Today's post has to do with a subject that I thought we'd settled: Net Neutrality. Basically, this is the God-save-us simple premise that ALL content going out on internet service providers (ISPs) will arrive on your devices at equal speed. Right now, all ISPs and the government has to keep the speeds equal.

But now, of course, we are in an era of uber-pay-for-play and Drumpf's FCC appointee -- Ajit Pai -- has pledged to take a “weed whacker” to the standing rules. It doesn't take a genius to do the math here. Pay for play? You have no idea.

I had been really pissed about this recent turn of events but had been chalking it up to another Drumpf-era pile of insanity. But last night, I happened to watch John Oliver's show. (As an aside, it scares me how much I adore him and I can only say that I pray he has body guards when he goes out with his family.) He tackled this issue in last night's episode which -- if you are above the age of 12 --  you should see. Definitely NSFW language but oh, so on-point.

If you have time to watch the episode, here it is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92vuuZt7wak&feature=youtu.be

If not, I will cut to the chase. John Oliver walked through the latest political shenanigans, as he did several years ago on THE SAME TOPIC, and also as he did, rallied those of us with functioning brain cells to give the FCC some choice words on why we NEED TO KEEP NET NEUTRALITY A LEVEL PLAYING FIELD.

What he pointed out, though, is that the government has made it *extraordinarily difficult* to figure out HOW to do this. So, he -- BRILLIANT man -- created a URL that we can go to which takes us directly to the page where the comments section is.

And the name of this URL: "GOFCCYOURSELF". Honest to God, have I mentioned how much I love this man???

So DO IT. If you don't know anything about net neutrality, then Google it. Right now, you can Google with the same speed as Bing. (Though really, why would you want to use Bing?)  Do a quick read and then weigh in. Yes, you will have to give your name and address. Don't be paranoid. It's too important.

The encore? We keep something sane in this country.

Thanks for listening.

www.gofccyourself.com