When Good Men Do Nothing

"Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold." The Word of God

For those of you who are familiar with God's Word, you know that this refers to the moral state of mankind near the end times. It plainly says what it says. Because iniquity... which is the bad moral behavior that people used to be ashamed of. Things accepted now were not even tolerated in time past. Because iniquity...more and more people doing worse and worse things. Truly the moral baseline has dropped very low. Because so many people are doing, participating and accepting sinful behavior...the love of many shall wax cold.

Recently I was contacted by an animal control shelter that had a dog that a couple had purchased from me. They would have faced criminal charges had they not surrendered ownership of the dog. This dog, who was once robust, healthy and full of joyful energy had become malnourished, aggressive and very skiddish. This was accomplished by tying up the dog with no human contact and only feeding him every 3 or 4 days with hardly any water at all. When any interaction was made, it consisted of mental and physical abuse such as kicking and hitting the dog. This dog, who once was so loving and playful, had become aggressive and nervous because of this prolonged, cruel treatment.

Abuse like this has always been going on, it is nothing new. However, today it is much more prevalent. Much more widespread. Much more accepted and tolerated. This couple who bought this dog and promised to give him a good life are grossly overweight. That in itself speaks volumes of who they are. I observed their children, who were misbehaving the entire time and speaking very disrespectfully to their parents. There was no discipline from their parents. Again, this speaks volumes of who and what they are.

Sadly, this couple represents a vast majority of what America has let itself become. Their love for each other, themselves and their children has, "waxed cold." They do not treat each other or their children with respect or love. So, to treat a dog cruelly does not bother them at all. They do not loose any sleep over the cruel treatment they have inflicted on one of God's greatest gifts to us...the dog.

Look around and see how people treat people. Is it no surprise then that animals suffer cruelty at our hands.I understand spiritually why this is happening. I don't like it though. Especially to the innocent...children, the elderly, those who cannot take care of themselves. Dogs are way down on the list. But it does not lessen the fact of how wrong and cruel it is. I will not accept or tolerate this and will always do what I can to prevent and change this. I pray that others will too.

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." Edmund Burke

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A Special Mirror

One of the cool things about training working dogs is that it is very self-revealing. It is as though a big mirror is held up in front of you , for you to view. Not just any old mirror that merely shows one's reflection. This is a special mirror. It will show you your insides, who you really are and what you are. Now, this can be a really good thing or a very bad thing. It is solely up to the person in the mirror.

All too often this special mirror will reveal to me that I am too impatient, too quick to get angry while training my dogs. Being a typical dork human, sometimes when I see that not too pleasant - but honest - reflection of myself, I ignore it. Pretend that I did not see it, or make an excuse to justify the reason for the reflection. Sometimes though, I step back and appreciate what the mirror has just revealed to me. I then make a conscious decision to change me, so as to change that reflection. These are the good and bad points of this special mirror.

When I am honest with myself and see an image in this mirror that I know should not be in there, I can change it right then and there. Right then I can make that decision. This I know, dogs are very good at reading our body language and looking at our insides and knowing what we are feeling. If we are angry...they know. If we are happy...they know. Scared, excited, hesitant, fearful, tired ...they do know. We cannot hide it, but...that does not mean we have to be that way. For example: When your dog does something or does not do something we want, do we always have to get angry? No. Do we get angry at times? Yes. But can we train and condition ourselves not to get angry? ABSOLUTELY!

This special mirror not only reveals if you are angry, it shows when you are impatient, miscommunicating, or treating your dog unfairly. It also shows you when you are happy, patient, communicating correctly and treating your dog fairly. The key to benefiting from this special mirror is to simply be honest with yourself when looking into it. This is a very valuable mirror if used correctly. On the other hand, if one disregards what they see in this mirror, soon their reflection will start to fade and eventually the mirror will not show you anything. This very useful tool will be gone. It is very hard and humbling sometimes to honestly look at the reflection that is presented to us. But in order to better ourselves, it is needful.

A funny thing about this special mirror is that if you choose to ignore the reflections presented to you, it does not prevent others from seeing them, including your dog. So, humble yourselves and look closely at this mirror. Not only will your handling skills increase for the better, you just might become a better person. You just might become a better husband, wife or friend.