I envy my dog. I envy that she gets to lie on the sofa, blissfully unaware that the American people are reeling from the results of Tuesday night’s election. Some of us are reeling in disbelief while others are reeling from celebration.
My dog doesn’t know this, and she doesn’t care. She lies on the sofa, waiting for me to put on my running shoes. Her ears perk up when I walk into the kitchen. She can hear me uncap the peanut butter jar from a mile away. She’s never heard of Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, and she doesn’t give a damn about either of them, either.
She’s pretty amazing, my dog. She cares about love, and following her heart. And my dog’s heart is big, so big. She loves everyone, regardless of their looks, their color. She wants everyone to be happy, and to throw a tennis ball her way. She wags her tail excitedly whenever we pass anyone on the trails because who knows what treats they might have hidden upon them, what stories they might tell, what gifts they might bring to the world?
Instead of complaining about the election results and spreading fear and distrust, I’m going to try to be more like my dog. I’m going to make my heart big and fill it with hope. I’m going to follow my dreams and be kind and listen to others. I’m going to run joyfully through the snow and smile when I pass others, even those who follow different philosophies, different mindsets. I’m going to strive to be happy, to write well and to live fully.
George Herbert said, “Living well is the best revenge.”
So no matter how you voted or who or what you believe in, let’s all strive to be happy, to treat one another with kindness and respect, to live well and fully and gloriously. Let’s all do this, okay?
Cinthia Ritchie 
How funny, I said pretty much the same thing in my post today! Dog envy. (Great minds think alike, eh?)
Great advice though, to live more like our pups. They’re creatures of habit and they live on love. We could all do a lot worse.
LikeLiked by 2 people
How funny that we both wrote similar posts. Great minds totally think alike. Cheers and sending lots of puppy/dog pets your way.
LikeLike
Thank you & Seriously for your most excellent reminder of how to live our best life!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, June!
LikeLike
“never heard of Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump”
Where is this place and how do I get there?
“So no matter how you voted or who or what you believe in, let’s all strive to be happy, to treat one another with kindness and respect, to live well and fully and gloriously.”
Couldn’t agree more, but here’s where I think the problem lies. I have a very good friend. She and I regularly discuss that there are two different types of people in the world. Those who just get through the day and wake up in the morning and do it all over again and they are happy and good with this. They don’t really worry about tomorrow. They are upset that Trump won but they don’t really think about what it really means for us in the days and weeks and months ahead. It happened, get on with life. And then there are those who live this and breathe it and care so damn much about things being the right way. They feel the pain of others and the desperation of dreams not met. My friend and I wish each time we talk about this that we could be in the former group while reveling in the fact that we are in the latter. Because we care and we haven’t given up.
This is not meant as a criticism of those in the former group. It’s just a recognition of the differences and of who we are. This friend of mine is so despondent over the election results. She’ll be fine, but she can’t understand it and will feel this for the next four years.
The point I guess is that your sentiment is right on. But there is an element here that we cannot let go of, should not let go of. I know that’s not what you’re suggesting, but I … well, I don’t know anymore what the point was that I wanted to make when I first started typing this.
I agree we should treat one another with kindness and respect and to live well, full, and gloriously. Sometimes it’s damn hard to do that. And I say that as somebody who has come to peace with the results a lot sooner than many of my friends and co-workers.
Thank you for your words and thoughts here.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Oh, honey, I’m not letting it go. I’m fighting to the end to retain/get back what will soon be lost. I was a single mother. I’m a woman. I’ve been battered around and denied opportunities simply because of my gender. I won’t let women’s rights go down without a fight, and the same with gay rights and immigrant rights and racial rights, etc.
I’ve felt sick to my stomach since Trump won. It’s almost a visceral pain, it’s that deep. I hate, hate, hate that the haters won. I hate, hate, hate what this means for our country and, especially, for young women and young people of color. It kills me what they might have to face.
At the same time, I’m not going to allow the haters to win. And that means I’m going to fight, yes, but I’m also going to run in the mountains with my dog and write poetry and kiss my partner and enjoy life to the fullest, each and every day, regardless of who is in power and what the saggy old white men in Washington who think only with their dicks are doing. It’s what we have to do, I think. It’s the only way to survive and keep going. It’s not winning. But living miserably is playing into their hands and I refuse to do that.
I shudder when I think of who Trump will pick for his Cabinet. I just f*cking shudder. I mean, a fracking mogul for Interior Secretary? What will that mean for our national park lands and wilderness areas? I could go on but I have a freelance piece due tomorrow morning and need to get writing.
Cheers, thanks so much for your much-valued comments, and take care.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I know you aren’t letting it go. I know.
LikeLike
Seriousl is so awesome. So is Rita. She’s definitely my therapy dog now. I’m trying to do the same as you – smilie at everyone. I wear my “choose love” tee from Teddy the Dog a lot now. At the same time, as you say in your comment above,I shudder thinking of the environment and the human rights set backs we might face. I’m finding small ways to try to do something positive. (I’ve made some donations – although there are so many groups that need help! Can’t possibly help them ALL. Have to pick and choose wisely. Also today there was a lot of trash – way more than usual due to extremely high tides the last few days. Instead of just focusing on my workout and keeping the ol’ heart rate up, I figured I should put my love for the environment “where my mouth is” so to speak, so spent a good portion of our run picking up trash.)
Trying to move forward and accept things, while at the same time remembering to harness this anger and frustration. Trying to make this the year of “putting your money where your mouth is.” Going to try to remind myself to “be the change.” It’s going to be a long four years – but hopefully we can make some good strides in two years.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Seriously is such a cuties and it’s times like this that we envy our cats. Although if the economy starts to tank because of The Donald and we have to buy cheap cat food … well, then they just may care 😉
I’m with you and Max. I envy the people that can go through each day, just living in the moment, but I worry, worry, worry. And I’d rather be the one who worries because then at least I’ll try to do something about what is worrying me. The other group, well, frankly, they are part of the problem. Perhaps if they had cared, we wouldn’t be in this mess.
LikeLike