As always, Sandy the
elephant and Zoot the dog were the best of pals in the whole wide world and
were sitting by the river.
“Them things in the sky,” said Zoot.
“The birds?” Asked Sandy.
“Yup, the birds, do you
think they are happy?”
“I guess so,” said Sandy.
“Why wouldn’t they be?”
“I wish I could fly,” said
Zoot.
Sandy smiled to himself about flying dogs and then remembered that story about flying elephants.
“Why would you want to do a thing like that – flying , it’s dangerous,” said Sandy.
“Not for the birds, it isn’t.”
“Yeh, but they don’t know
any better. Flying is all they know.” Sandy was getting worried about Zoot.
“What’s up, Zoot?”
“I’m fed up being a dog, I
want to be able to fly.”
“Don’t you think, that one
of those birds is looking down at us and saying, I wish I was an elephant or a
dog, so that I can stay on the ground – I’m tired of always flying?”
“Nope.”
“I can bet you they do.
It’s they way we are all made. Wishing to be something or someone else.”
“I do it all the time,”
said Zoot. “I’m always wishing I wasn’t a dog.”
“That’s because being a
dog is easy for you, you were born a dog, and despite what you wish for, you’ll
probably die a dog. Unless you’ve got a hankering to tie a pair of wings on
your back; it’s because you’re a dog, you don’t see how special that is.”
“I don’t know what you
mean,” said a confused Zoot.
“We’re all made to be
something that’s different from everything else. No matter what you say, Zoot,
you’re unique.”
“I am?”
“Of course you are, and
more importantly you’re my pal. Do you think I would be friends with just
anyone?”
“I guess not,” said Zoot,
who was a little more pleased.
“Some are made to fly,
some are born to dance, some to sing, some to stand and see the stars. All of
us, and I mean all of us, are different from the next thing. Even the leaves on
the trees are all different.”
“So what are you saying,
Sandy?” Asked Zoot.
“That you were born to be
a dog, Zoot, my friend. And even if there is a dog kinda like you in the
future, he won’t have been born in this time, knowing me, doing the things we
do.”
“Like sitting by the river
and talking?”
“Exactly. Too many
people…”
“And animals,” added Zoot.
“And animals are unhappy
with what they’ve got. But if they could only see that what they’ve got is a
miracle then they’d stop wishing to be something else. You are what the
universe made you. If you spend your days wishing it away, then you’ve turned
your back on the universe. Why would anything want to do that?”
“So I should stop wishing
I wasn’t a dog and just be happy.”
“You got it.”
“What about being a rich
dog then?” Asked Zoot.
Sandy just looked at his
buddy and smiled. That’s why he loved Zoot so much.
bobby stevenson 2016
wee bobby
No comments:
Post a Comment