This is Digby Pancake. It’s nice to feel accepted, isn’t it? When I back my booty up to any random person for a back rub and they accept, well, that’s pretty awesome.
When others know your name and say hello, that’s nice too.
And at the campground for dogs and their persons this past week, we got to know barks. Yes, every dog had a different bark.
Every dog had a way of expressing themselves. It was like music to our ears.
Not every campground would have been so welcoming of dogs barking. In fact, I often get told to hush it or we are gonna get kicked out. But here, we felt accepted and like we belonged. It was nice. We could be…dogs.
It seemed like everyone here not only loved dogs, but they loved to be with others who loved dogs. And I wondered…what if the whole world was this loving and accepting? Are we loving? Are we accepting? Or do we judge others for their choices that may be different than ours? I wondered if the persons had thought about this.
We thought of the times maybe we had been irritated at little people being…little people!
We thought of the times we had been irritable at older persons driving slow…because they had to. We thought of the times we had expected others to be anything but who they were and how we felt our day interrupted by others who were different. It wasn’t nice.
But if we want others to respect who we are, we have to BE respectful.
We have to take into account others around us. Being accepted doesn’t mean being the same. Because although most everyone here at this campground had dogs, some didn’t. And we hoped that by seeing the joy and love a dog can bring, maybe they would give that a second thought.
Be who you are with respect.
It’s nice to go where everyone knows your bark. But make others feel accepted and loved too.
–Digby Pancake
