The morning was as normal as it could be and my mom and I started our normal routine like we always did when I was a high school student. Or at least it was normal when I would wake up on time. We always liked to take walks, so we would get up at 6 in the morning and make a cup of coffee and head out to the chert road behind our house usually with our dogs and cat in tow behind us. The walk was less than a mile. Sometimes we talked about things, sometimes we just walked. I always enjoyed starting my morning this way.
Side note to teens: Take advantage of the time you have with your parents if you're able. I know I might seem extremely uncool that I walked with my mom, but we both think back and just have great memories of that time together.
As we approached the spot where we usually would turn around, the walk had been just as routine and normal as all the other ones. But as I was looking at the pastures on each side scanning for any horses that may be grazing, something caught my eye and all I could muster out was something to the degree of "Oh no." Up by the fence of the pasture on the road parallel to the chert road stood one of the largest canine species I had ever seen. It had its ears pointed straight up and was just staring us down. "Mom, I think it's a wolf," I said. Not wanting to panic, we turned around and began walking at our normal pace back toward the house. We would periodically glance over our shoulder. The animal never took his locked eyes off of us and each time we looked back, he had gained ground on us. We started walking much faster, but every time we picked up our pace he did the same. We started to run and I tried to push my mom as fast as she could go, but that just made the animal run and by the time we had gotten back to our yard he had caught us.
I looked back into the face of the huge animal and what I saw was one of the happiest looking dogs I had ever seen. His curly tail and ears were still sticking straight up, but his tongue was hanging out and he looked like he was smiling. He ran over and sniffed me and then leaned up against me and just had his tail wagging as fast as it could go. We later found out that he was a Malamute, which is a rather large breed of dog similar to a husky. Dukkha was his name and he belonged to neighbors down the street. He visited our house frequently, being one of the gentlest, sweetest dogs you'd ever meet. Apparently Dukkha thought the game of chase the humans had played with him was so much fun, but we learned a valuable lesson that day.
Moral of the story: Don't make assumptions about a person before you get to know them.
Often times we stereotype people based on external appearance, rumors, or other misguided information. Before you make claims about other people, make sure you have at least gotten to know their name and heard their story. It is much harder to be prejudiced when you get to know names and start to build compassion. And realize that even those that may be the scariest looking to us, are worthy to be shown the same love and kindness that Christ showed to us. Everybody has a story, so take time to get to know the stories of those around you.
Side note to teens: Take advantage of the time you have with your parents if you're able. I know I might seem extremely uncool that I walked with my mom, but we both think back and just have great memories of that time together.
As we approached the spot where we usually would turn around, the walk had been just as routine and normal as all the other ones. But as I was looking at the pastures on each side scanning for any horses that may be grazing, something caught my eye and all I could muster out was something to the degree of "Oh no." Up by the fence of the pasture on the road parallel to the chert road stood one of the largest canine species I had ever seen. It had its ears pointed straight up and was just staring us down. "Mom, I think it's a wolf," I said. Not wanting to panic, we turned around and began walking at our normal pace back toward the house. We would periodically glance over our shoulder. The animal never took his locked eyes off of us and each time we looked back, he had gained ground on us. We started walking much faster, but every time we picked up our pace he did the same. We started to run and I tried to push my mom as fast as she could go, but that just made the animal run and by the time we had gotten back to our yard he had caught us.
I looked back into the face of the huge animal and what I saw was one of the happiest looking dogs I had ever seen. His curly tail and ears were still sticking straight up, but his tongue was hanging out and he looked like he was smiling. He ran over and sniffed me and then leaned up against me and just had his tail wagging as fast as it could go. We later found out that he was a Malamute, which is a rather large breed of dog similar to a husky. Dukkha was his name and he belonged to neighbors down the street. He visited our house frequently, being one of the gentlest, sweetest dogs you'd ever meet. Apparently Dukkha thought the game of chase the humans had played with him was so much fun, but we learned a valuable lesson that day.
Moral of the story: Don't make assumptions about a person before you get to know them.
Often times we stereotype people based on external appearance, rumors, or other misguided information. Before you make claims about other people, make sure you have at least gotten to know their name and heard their story. It is much harder to be prejudiced when you get to know names and start to build compassion. And realize that even those that may be the scariest looking to us, are worthy to be shown the same love and kindness that Christ showed to us. Everybody has a story, so take time to get to know the stories of those around you.