The Wisdom of Jonathan: Samantha

Written by craig

One of the greatest lessons I've ever received, I got from Jonathan, my dog.

This chocolate brown “kind of” retriever wasn't necessarily blessed with a blazing intellect but he was lightning fast on his feet and had a heart that loved the world. (Birds were the exception, however. Oh, he definitely loved them and could catch a pigeon in flight. From the birds' perspective, it was a rather fatal attraction.)

 One day I brought home a feral kitten, a poor creature rescued by a professor friend who already had more than her quota of felines. Jonathan was laying down in the living room, his living room, when I set Samantha down. He didn't blink but she hissed with a ferocity well beyond her size, ran over to him, whacked her claws against his exposed nose, and took off.

 At that point, I realized my horrible mistake and was trying to figure a way to safely extricate Samantha from what would have been certain death from the jaws of an angry canine. But . . . then something truly amazing happened: nothing. Johnathan yelped slightly but didn't get up. He just remained there trying to look like nothing happened.

 Over the next few weeks, I'd frequently hear that little yelp and see Samantha scooting from the living room. Then a month later . . . silence. Still, I was not prepared for where things would go.

 Two months later I came into the living room and saw Jonathan curled up in the recliner, his recliner, and above him nestled on the top of the headrest was a sleeping kitten. A couple of weeks after that I found him in the recliner asleep, with a small kitten, also asleep, curled up in his lap.

 You see, Jonathan knew that Samantha was terrified when she first saw him. She'd been chased and hunted by several of his cousins and had learned to hate as a matter of survival. Jonathan, however, was a lover. He knew that he could have eaten her in a heartbeat but that wasn't his style. Instead, he accepted her right where she was, put up with her painful attacks, andgave love in return.

 Eventually he won, and she won. I did too, because that's how Jonathan taught me that the best solution is the one where everybody wins.