A few nights ago, around 4 am, I was awoken to the chilling cry of a dog, either badly injured due to fights or ran over by a vehicle [hopefully not because someone inflicted cruelty].
There are many stray dogs in Bangalore, and I think of the overly pampered pooches in Singapore. These strays have a sense of survival, if you know the kind of traffic conditions in India, you will know what I mean. I would even ask myself ‘why would the dog cross the road?’ No, not for the riddles. Seriously, why do they need to cross the road – it is the same on the other side!
Back to the shrill in the night. It happened a few more times that night and next day. I am convinced the dog is suffering a painful death. I kept feeling the pain for the dog. I kept asking God to take its life right away to minimise the suffering. It got me thinking…
God must be hearing the humans doing the same ie shrills of desperation, cries of pain, shouts of injustice, etc. It must sound to Him much worse than what I heard, the simultaneous cry of the poor, the fatherless, the victims of cruelty, I can hardly contain that picture in my mind.
Then this morning I saw a dog running with something in its mouth – food it found from the streets. I was noticing its posture when it was trotting across the field. It had a dignity about it and was not in a frantic hurry to eat the item in its mouth. It trotted all the way into the field [I am in the building next to the field, on 3rd floor] and found its choice spot and then started to enjoy the prized find. The dog trotted with its head high and perked up body – almost as if it had an air of pride – across the field.
It is quite a contrast between the two reflections. A suffering dog and a dog with a sense of accomplishment. So, life is a journey and we have different ones and different seasons.
Do we know where the journey takes us to?
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