The Old Dog

As told by Al Turtle

Once apon a time there were two old fellas, sitting on a front porch  rocking back and forth.  Lyin’ on the floor between them was an old dog.  Every-so-often as they watched the evening come on, the dog would up and yelp.  “Yeeeeoooooooooowwwww!” 

One guy says, “Say, is that dog your’s?” And the other says, “Yup.”

They rock on for a while.  The dog goes “Aaaaarrrrrgggghhhhhh!”

“Say, what’s the matter with your dog?” says the first guy.  And the other says, “He’s in pain.”

Silence, as they rock some more.  Then the dog goes “Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhooooooooowwww!”

“Hey, this dog, what’s hurtin’ im?” says guy number one.  “I think he’s layin’ on a nail,” says the dog’s owner.

They rock on for a while as the sun begins to get lower.  Finally the dog yelps once more, “Ooooooooooowwwwwwooooowwww!”

“Gosh dammit! I can’t stand this. Why n’t he get offin that nail?” says the first guy. 

“Well…. I guess it just don’t hurt him enough yet,” is the slow and thoughtful response.

Commentary: This seems to me the story of just about every addictive behavior I can think of.  The person complaining is the one who’s got to do something. Responsibility rests in the complainer.  But we are so often trained as kids to try to fix things for the complaining persons.  If you do that, you just make the complainer, the addictive person, more comfortable in their addiction.  Now the wise thing to do is to help make their pain more intense.  What I sometimes like to do is to get up “out of my chair, walk down off that front porch, climb around under the wood until I find that nail.  And then I use a hammer to tap it in further till that dog decides to get up off his nail.”   As my friend, Bill, often says, “I love hearing about your problem, and I am really looking forward to your solution!”  

So, if you are the one in pain, focus on learning your lesson.  Learn faster to decrease or shorten that pain.  Remember, you’ll either have a nice day or learn something.  Which is it today?