It’s far from me to preach, but let me tell you it’s never too late to make amends in your relationships, not just to your closest circle, but to your entire environment, and understanding is the clue to it all. 

               This illustrates it admirably…

Not as in, I know where you are coming from, or, I know exactly what you mean. It is never possible to precisely know what the other is thinking. At best you can try to understand, which is achieved by asking questions and displaying a genuine interest. 

But what if the other guy is not in the mood to feed your curiosity, or answer truthfully to, what are to him, nosy questions?

I watched a dog whisperer type get into a large cage with a very unfriendly German shepherd. The dog was trying to get as far away from him as possible, crouching in a corner while growling and looking the other way. The brave whisperer turned his back to the dog and talked, telling him he was a good boy, had nothing to worry about, and that it was not his fault, all the while offering him a tasty chewy. This went on forever and sort of got pretty boring. The dog wasn’t budging, probably too scared or stupid. But, I was curious and expected him to sooner or later pounce on the guy.

To be honest, I did not have the patience to sit through the whole video and fast-forwarded to a stage where the dog, instead of tearing into him, was trying to climb into the man’s lap while slobbering all over him. 

The whisperer was inconceivably understanding and patient. The dog interpreted all that as love and returned the love as slobber, and I’m sure, lots of hair shedding on the man’s clean trainers. Can’t help it, but I have no love (understanding) lost for German shepherds and am sure no French poodle would fall for cheap tricks of that nature. They are too cultured and sophisticated.

Sometimes, most of the time, I have a hard time taking my advice. I can’t muster the patience it takes to get to better know, understand, and love the other guy or girl. 

I try though and so should you. You don’t have to take that literally. You can do whatever the f**k you like. Just like the guys in the Middle East, and many other places. Lob bombs at each other or drone the crap out of your neighbors. I just suggest you don’t. Instead of being insensitive, pretentious, and aggressively resistant, try it with some engaging compassion and welcoming empathy, also known as diplomacy. In other words, with some loving understanding.

You have to admit it’s pretty hopeless though, and I don’t even know why I’m making the effort, as, on the whole, you’re a self-centered, chauvinistic lot. All seven, or is it eight billion of you. 

Jean Jacques whispered that he understands me

And now I’ll just go and cuddle with my French Poodle. He doesn’t shed and he loves me. Oh, and by the way, Google tells me there are 7.951 billion of you already, while during Adam and Eve’s days, there were only 100 million…

Like sand on the beach…

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