the bottomline

A Dog Leading the Way
Tuesday, July 27, 2021 by Dan Allen


Traffic was moving at a crawl up south mountain near Allentown on I78. No, there wasn’t an accident, nor a disabled vehicle or police activity, rather it was a small dog who was running for its life on the road as if he was leading the vehicles.


I’m a dog lover. It all started when I was in 8th grade. I was a grumpy kid with little to no pleasing attributes. It’s obvious why—I was the third of four siblings. This is like, for my churchgoing friends, before singing a hymn the leader announces: “We will now sing hymn number 431, the first, second and last stanzas.” What? What’s wrong with the third stanza? Does the hymn writer know you’ve “canceled” the third? But, being canceled like this was the story of my life up until that point. My older sister, by four years, was the front–runner, the parental experiment. She survived despite the first child try out. My brother, two years after her, was and still is very intelligent. And that meant when there was intelligent conversation, he was engaged. He talked A LOT! Then there was the quintessential baby of the house, three years my junior. She was the apple of my parents’ eye and could do no wrong. That meant me . . . left out. One example: on long trips my older siblings got opposite halves of the second seat and the little princess got the entire back of the station wagon, along with whatever we were carrying if anything. I, on the other hand, was relegated to the floor of the second seat . . . that’s back when it had a rather large bump in the middle. No wonder my back hurts.

This middle child’s syndrome is not unique with me. I haven’t done any recent studies of the kind, but I’m sure it’s a universal fact.

So, my parents wanting to solve my personality problems were counseled by a psychologist to get him a dog. I didn’t learn of this until much later in life, but I see it now. The dog was for everyone in the house, but she and I hit it off. Since then, and after college, a wedding, and along with four kids, we finally got a dog and then more dogs. Cocker Spaniels are the breed I prefer. Perhaps it’s because they have a mopey face like I used to have. 

I didn’t get a really good look at the dog on I78 since I was going in the opposite direction. It was relatively small, a bit larger than a terrier mix. Boy could it run. I do not know what happened to it. I’m hoping someone was able to corral it and eventually get it back to its owner. But even more interesting is — how did the dog get on this section of the road? With a relatively high cement medium blocking the east and west bound lanes and an even higher cement wall on the sides it’s not likely the dog wandered from its house. Perhaps it fell out of a vehicle while catching air from a window. I’m always worried about this — seeing a dog unrestrained hanging out a window. In my mind is the sight of a small dog on I95 down south who must have fallen out of a car and died.

A tip of the hat to the drivers who slowed down so as not to run over the pooch. Another good example of humanity. Generally, humans are pretty good when it comes to things like this. We talk about the sanctity of life, cradle–to–the–grave, and how we need to care for our fellow humans for their entire life. I wholeheartedly agree. The difference might be as to how we define that care. Is it the government’s responsibility, the family and individual’s, a combination of the two, or is the later replaced with the church and charitable organizations? My little article is not meant to address this problem, not enough room. But if you really wanted to know, I would diminish the government’s role (not eliminate it), replacing it with the two c’s and the family/individual. And then I’d change the phrase to: womb–to–the–grave. But that might get this old–timer chased out–of–town on I80.
 


Previous Posts

We vs. I
Dan Allen
2/23/2022

Going to Hell
Dan Allen
12/14/2021

Stay Away from the Meatloaf
Dan Allen
11/6/2021

A Dog Leading the Way
Dan Allen
7/27/2021

The Speed–Breakers of Life
Dan Allen
7/10/2021

High School Reunion
Dan Allen
4/8/2021

"Skin, it's the thing that's in"
Dan Allen
3/13/2021

Emerging from a Covid Cell
Dan Allen
2/20/2021

'Twas The Real Night Before Christmas
Russell T Allen
12/17/2020

Christmas Catalogs
Dan Allen
11/14/2020

Cancel This!
Dan Allen
10/3/2020

Don't Judge By Its Cover
Dan Allen
9/8/2020

Our Plans Trumped by God
Dan Allen
9/5/2020

We Fall Down
Dan Allen
8/5/2020

Battle with a Bug
Dan Allen
7/13/2020

Be Sure Your Sin Will Find You Out
Dan Allen
7/3/2020

Setting the bar too low
Dan Allen
6/25/2020

Good is Evil, Evil is Good
Dan Allen
6/9/2020

Misguided Freedom
Dan Allen
6/4/2020

A Preaching Nightmare
Dan Allen
5/9/2020

Restaurant and/or Church Possible
Dan Allen
5/2/2020

A Good Dose of Cloistering Going On
Dan Allen
4/15/2020

So, Where is God in All of This?
Dan Allen
4/14/2020

I Finally Learned How to Wash My Hands
Dan Allen
4/13/2020

Fire Truck - Glory Train
Dan Allen
4/16/2019

Some Sins Seem to Do More Damage
Dan Allen
4/16/2019

The Canopy is Gone
Dan Allen
12/15/2018

Brushing Teeth with Iced Tea
Dan Allen
11/5/2018

Never in Danger, but Could Have Been
Dan Allen
11/4/2018

Another Festival
Dan Allen
11/3/2018

Cow Town
Dan Allen
11/2/2018

Dressing Down
Dan Allen
11/1/2018

#MeToo
Dan Allen
10/25/2018

All Alone Among 1.35 Billion People
Dan Allen
10/24/2018

Does Anyone Know What Time It Is?
Dan Allen
10/23/2018

Time To Be Spiritual Weather Forecasters
Dan Allen
10/22/2018

Words Change . . . But Someone Gets the Final Word
Dan Allen
9/4/2018

To Cremate or Not to Cremate
Dan Allen
7/15/2018

I Want to Hold Your Hand
Dan Allen
7/4/2018

I Finally Caught a Foul Ball . . . Sort of
Dan Allen
6/8/2018

I Can Only Imagine
Dan Allen
6/1/2018

Do Panhandlers Have Regulars
Dan Allen
4/8/2018

Can't Good Dogs Go To Heaven?
Dan Allen
4/3/2018

At the Taj . . . in pictures only
Dan Allen
1/24/2018

Cold, But Warm Inside
Dan Allen
1/22/2018

Don't Remove the Plastic
Dan Allen
1/12/2018

Put Your Big Boy Pants On
Dan Allen
1/9/2018

In the Spirit . . . or not?
Dan Allen
1/3/2018

You Could Cut It With a Knife
Dan Allen
1/1/2018

Personal Message Boards
Dan Allen
11/24/2017

Men Acting Badly, err Should We Say---Horribly!
Dan Allen
11/18/2017

History of Bible Fellowship Church of Ephrata
Dan Allen
8/29/2017

Large Crowd Diversion
Dan Allen
6/19/2017

Bikes, Bikers, and Trying New Things
Dan Allen
6/18/2017

Lessons from T-Ball for Churches
Dan Allen
6/17/2017

Authenticity of and in Jeans
Dan Allen
5/11/2017

Don't Let Me Fall
Dan Allen
4/22/2017

Have We Lost the "Awe-factor," Wonderment?
Dan Allen
4/21/2017

Bumped - Not Bumbed
Dan Allen
4/13/2017

Go Fly a Kite
Dan Allen
1/18/2017

What's In Your Bag?
Dan Allen
1/17/2017

Cultural Faux Pas
Dan Allen
1/13/2017

The Three Hour Trip Ends Up 23 Hours
Dan Allen
1/12/2017

Walking Headrest Cover
Dan Allen
1/9/2017

The Gift that Keeps Giving
Dan Allen
12/17/2016

Let's Keep Things in Perspective
Dan Allen
8/1/2015

I've Got the Nine
Dan Allen
6/26/2015

God Often Works in Mysterious Ways
Dan Allen
6/5/2015

I'm From Negadelphia
Dan
3/24/2015

Positive Spin
Dan Allen
2/16/2015