- Last night, while I was out on the front porch, talking
on the phone with a friend in L.A., Emmy the Pit Mom came outside through
the open door.
-
- "You here to enjoy the night air?" I said.
"Great." I patted the wooden swing. "Want to sit next to
me?"
-
- At the other end of the line my friend chuckled. "Say
hi to Gwen the Beautiful for me."
-
- "Oh, I will. As soon as I go inside."
-
- "Isn't that who you were talking to just now?"
-
- "No, that was Emmy."
-
- "The dog? You were talking to the dog like that?
I was sure it had to be the woman you love. Or at least a human being."
-
- Those of you who are regular readers know how my mind
works. So you know what he said got me to thinking.
-
- And, of course, wondering.
-
- Is there really something so strange about how I talk
to Emmy? I talk to her the way I do all the animals around here. The way
I talk to Huck the Spotless Appaloosa, Elaine the Not So Wild Mustang,
Decker the Giant-Hearted, Belle the Wary and the cats and the chickens,
too.
-
- And I realized that the strange thing about the way I
talk to the animals here on the Mountain is that I talk to them the same
way I talk to people. I talk to them as conscious, self-aware human beings.
I talk to them the way I treat them - with respect.
-
- Respect? For animals?! Who'd a thunk it?
-
- Certainly not me. Back in the day when I was scrambling
for a living, fighting tooth and claw for my little piece of the pie, I
saw a huge difference between humans and other species.
-
- Humans were Kings of the Hill. Rulers of the planet!
Big Kahunas in every way.
-
- And animals - horses, dogs, barracudas, whatever - were
background. Décor. Not so much creatures as objects to be bent and
shaped and controlled.
-
- Don't get me wrong. I had lots of pets. Loved them all.
But I talked to them in that stern, authoritarian voice people reserve
for All Things Less Than Human. "Come! Sit! Stay! Heel!"
-
- Or in that sugary sweet supplicating tone we use when
expressing affection. "Good doggie. Good girl. Who's Daddy's favorite
kitten? Mmmm "
-
- Whoa. Imagine if we talked to our children that way.
Or our spouses or partners. Co-workers
-
- Oops, never mind. As I look back on my life as father,
husband, employee and employer, I realize I don't have to imagine that
at all.
-
- I did talk that way.
-
- Never thought about it. Never even noticed.
-
- Patronizing? Sure.
-
- Condescending? You bet.
-
- Desperate for love and approval and authority, too? Absolutely.
-
- There I was, an adult in the meat market we call the
Big City, begging, borrowing and wheedling my way to personal and business
success - and never noticing, not for a moment, that although I would say,
when asked by those close to me, "I'm doing this all for you. My life
is all about you," that wasn't how it was. My thoughts, feelings and
deeds weren't about "you" at all.
-
- They were all about "me."
-
- When I bragged about the achievements of friends and
family, I really was bragging about myself. Looking for honor by association.
-
- When I entered my St. Bernard in dog shows and showed
off her ribbons it wasn't because she loved it so much. It was because
I felt enhanced and empowered by her "success."
-
- Now, though, I'm out here in Paradise. Surrounded by
trees and critters. At the mercy of the wind and the sun and the rain.
Sharing this mountaintop with, yes, the woman I love. And also with the
animals whose behavior and interaction teach me so much everyday.
-
- And for the life of me I can't find one reason not to
think of all the creatures I've gotten to know so well as "people."
Not one valid instance to order them around. Nor wheedle or beg or cajole.
-
- I just plain respect them too much.
-
- This morning, I called my friend back and explained all
this to him. His response was another chuckle. "You've been in the
woods too long," he said.
-
- I don't think so.
-
- Right now, I don't think I ever could be in the woods
for too long.
-
- They're filled with way too many new people of all species
for me ever to want to leave.
-
- *****
-
- Copyright C 2006 by Larry Brody. For permission to reprint
this column, please write to LarryBrody@cloudcreek.org.
-
- Author Larry Brody's weekly column, LIVE! FROM PARADISE!
appears on his website, www.larrybrody.com. He has written thousands of
hours of network television, and is the author of "Television Writing
from the Inside Out" and "Turning Points in Television."
Brody is Creative Director of The Cloud Creek Institute for the Arts, the
world's first in-residence media colony. More about his activities can
be seen on www.tvwriter.com and www.cloudcreek.org. He welcomes your comments
and feedback at LarryBrody@cloudcreek.org. Brody, his wife and their dogs,
cats, horses and chickens live in Marion County, Arkansas. The other residents
of the mythical town of Paradise reside in his imagination.
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