Seeing the world through other eyes

Posted on May 8, 2007 by Bruce Keener

When I was out in the backyard this morning, I was watching my favorite dog walking around and sniffing the ground and smiling, and just enjoying the heck out of it. And I began to wonder what he was thinking and what he was seeing that made him so happy. I wanted to be able to see the world through his eyes but my imagination wasn’t good enough.

Then I remembered back to a time about five years ago when I was having dinner with some business associates, and one of them was talking about his autistic child. Tears came to my eyes as I thought about how very fortunate this man was to be able to see the world through the eyes of someone who sees the world so differently than most of us do. And, of course, I thought about Vickie and how fortunate I had been to see the world through her eyes (she had a way of finding beauty in the world and in simple things that I took too much for granted). It had only been six months at the time since she had passed away, and I was still at a point where it was difficult for me to control my emotions at times.

Anyway, I arranged to ride with this gentlemen back to the hotel where we were all staying, so I could talk with him about how fortunate I thought he was and to explain to him why he had seen tears in my eyes. And we had a good conversation. A fine man — truly, his son was fortunate to have a dad who would spend so much time with him and have such patience with him in situations where a lot of us would have thrown up our hands. I learned more about autistic children from him, and I hope he learned something from me as well.

If you have a chance to reflect on this, perhaps you can think about those around you who see the world differently than you do, and maybe it will encourage you to try to learn something from them. You will not always benefit from doing this, but sometimes you will. Of course you have to be open to it first.

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  • capo

    I often watch my dog and wonder what he’s thinking. I’m far from being an animal rights person, but I think he’s more noble and a “better person” than I am a lot of the time. He never loses his temper. He doesn’t worry. He doesn’t hold a grudge or get upset when i make fun of him. He forgives and forgets almost instantly. Unconditional love? Aside from Jesus Christ, I can’t think of a better representation than the love of a dog. He’d sacrifice himself for me without hesitation if the need ever arose. I have a lot to learn from my dog, but fortunately he doesn’t look down on me because of it.

  • http://www.keenerliving.com/ Bruce Keener

    Amen! I love my dogs dearly and wish I was half the person they are.

  • Mike

    Capo, you sound a lot like me. I look forward to reading the new posts on this blog each day. What kind of pets do each of you have?

    I have a Bichon inside the home that thinks he owns the home & a lab outside who wishes she were inside.

    Have a great day! Mike P.

  • http://www.keenerliving.com/ Bruce Keener

    Hi Mike,
    I have two dogs, Booger and Bouncer.
    Booger is part Spitz and part Pomp. I love him dearly. He sleeps on the bed with me, and won’t even let Bouncer in the bedroom, even though Bouncer is twice his size. Definitely the alpha male. Very playful.
    Bouncer is a Collie. He doesn’t particularly like people, but loves me, and I of course love him. I may post a picture of these guys a bit a later today, now that my wireless is finally working again. (Linksys tech service is great!). I had been thinking of posting it anyway.
    They’re house dogs, but love the fenced in back yard, where they run to their heart’s content.

  • capo

    I don’t actually have a dog, but there’s one who has me – he’s a 1.5 year old chocolate lab male named Jackson Brown. He was a present to my wife two Christmases ago. We’d had another choc male for the previous 14 or so years. He’d passed away the year before and we missed him a lot and wanted a pup. JB is a great dog, very smart and anxious to please. His favorite thing in life is retrieving sticks, preferably in water and the bigger they are, the better he likes them. I’ve had to cut up and burn a few of his favorites. No exaggeration – 14 feet long 30 pound tree limbs. He drags them to me and expects me to be able to throw them across the yard for him to fetch.