My dog Tam

Once I had a dog. He was a shih-tzu, a little brown bundle of fur that I found one day when I wasn't even looking for one. But the moment I spotted him, nestled among his brothers and sisters in a playpen, I knew I had to take him home. It wasn't long before my dog and I had become best friends and settled in happily together. What a character he was! And what a courageous little soul he had - he thought nothing of swimming a hundred yards to reach the boat I was fishing from, secure in the belief that I would pluck him out of the water when he got there. Well, Tam has been gone four days now...killed by a passing car when he raced into the road attempting to catch me on my way to work...and I am once again alone. But as I stated previously, alone-ness is for amoebas, not humans, so it hurts, this being alone. It hurts alot. I loved that dog, my friend with dark soulful eyes that followed every move I made. I miss you, Tam.

Alone is for amoebas

I've spent the better part of my life in embracing alone-ness, and it always suited my introverted nature perfectly. Then I got older, and with age came a change in my perspective, due, I think, to a more mature awareness of the world surrounding me and my place in it. The truth is, we humans are ultimately social creatures right down to our very souls . And this leads to a serious dilemma - we can never experience true happiness fully and completely unless/until we share it with another. Alone-ness is for amoebas! We humans need each other!

And yet, the fact remains that only we, alone, can make the decisions that determine the course of our lives. Oh, we can listen to the opinions of our loved ones, our friends, our heroes; but in the end it is we alone, within the confines of our own minds, make our decisions about how we will act in any given instant.

Isn't it great that deep within us lies the knowing, whether we are consciously aware of it or not, of how completely we as individuals are enmeshed in the fabric of WE?