A Tribute to Man’s Best Friend and Ours; Shadow

Last night our family companion and one of man’s best friends, Shadow, left this world. He blessed our lives for nearly 14 years and our hearts are a little hollow today with our loss. He was a “gift” in more ways than one. He was a Christmas gift to Taylor and Emily the year 2000. Although he was born in October, he officially became our keeper in December. Born a Chihuahua, he was small in stature but that little body was filled to capacity with heart. He was a shining example of the canine creed to always take care of your adopted family. He did it with every ounce of his soul.

We were blessed to be able to hold him quietly in our arms, snuggled in a blanket, thanking him for his love, and telling him how much he was loved and would be missed. He lived a healthy life and only of very late did he show the signs that he was preparing to leave us with a lifetime of memories. He was the oldest of our three dogs, and although it might seem that having two other wonderful dogs to fill the void, we might be spared some sorrow, that assumption would be wrong. His absence and memory will always have a special place in our hearts and family.

As all dog lovers know, it is often seen that we humans are being compassionate by opening our homes to our canine friends, when in fact it is we humans that benefit from their unconditional love and caring during their short time with us. They get us into routines that are wonderful distractions from the world around us. They are always ready to share a wag of the tale, jump into a lap, and remind us of how important relationships are to nurture. For just a moment we are part of their world which is so much less chaotic because it simply revolves around sharing affections.

I hope I was worthy of Shadow’s kindness and love. I tried to be as good a friend to him as he was to me. We exchanged our goodbyes last night which were extremely hard but are cherished compared to the alternative of not being able to say goodbye. As my heart and our collective family heart aches today it is also fuller for being part of Shadow’s family.

To know the love of a dog is to know pure love. They depend on you for their every need but what they are willing to give for that kindness is priceless. Every human heart should know that love. It is worth every ounce of sorrow and tears their loss brings. He will be missed.

 

What to do? Lessons of Ukraine

Let’s be clear here, this is a very complex issue with many angles that need to be considered before making threats or knee jerk reactions. I leave my mind open to additional facts about the situation but there are some comments that need to be made on the current state of affairs.

The world and the Ukraine is a more dangerous place because we, the United States have left a vacuum of leadership in the world. Our President’s failure to engage in the world while he destroys the domestic economy has sent a clear message to the evil despots in the world. There is no longer a “world’s police force.” Whether you agree that we should be or not, that is not the point. Our position on the world stage has been a stabilizing force but no longer. The message is the world is open for plunder.

There is evil in the world even if you wish there was not. This administration is a product of the sixties hippies that believe in peace, love, and flower power. The problem is there is no peace without leadership, hard work building allies, and military strength. There is no love when you preach hate throughout the world. This president spends his time dividing this nation and the world by continually apologizing for things that he believes we need to confess to like military dominance. In his view our military dominance is not a source of good but one of evil. He is mistaken. Evil is a weed and to think that flower power is enough to make the world a better place is to underestimate the roots of evil.

The Ukraine is on the Black Sea and Russian military bases are located there. If Russia decided to build a base next to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba would we react? If we didn’t then we would be a fool. Ukraine also has a large Russian population having been part of the former Soviet Union and there is a lot of support for Russia in many parts of the Ukraine. So the Ukraine is divided in the revolution that unseated the elected Prime Minister. He did make some attempts to undermine the democratic processes but that is an internal Ukraine issue.

If Russia invades Ukraine we have a pact with Ukraine to support their independence. Our options are limited because we have been retracting from the world stage. We are reducing our military footprint at a time we need a more effective military. We have options but they are not military at this time.

So what do we do about the Ukraine? We use it to understand how ineffective this administration is and start the process to remove this president before it’s too late here in America. We should send our naval fleet to Cuba and remove the Russian ship that is in Cuba right now. We need to throw out the democrats and republicans that have allowed the US budget to be ignored for the past six years.

We need to use the Ukraine as a lesson of what true leadership in the world means and elect adults to the office of president and to congress. The US has no stomach for war and should not get involved in Ukraine at this time. We need to rebuild our political process to remove the enemies of America and rebuild our military might to stabilize the world again. Don’t be fooled that it is too late. It is never too late until it’s over.

America is not over but it has let down its guard and elected enemies of the state… We can change that and the Ukraine is showing us we need to do it now…