Posted by
William D. Dannenmaier on Friday, December 16, 2011 7:16:22 PM
We lost our Yukon. Sheila and I sat on the porch and cried while Andrew dug a grave for her next to the porch and by the fence, a place she often rested. We loved her and she loved us.
About fifteen years ago, dogless, Sheila and I saw and advertisement offering a German shepherd to anyone wanting a dog. I went to claim her. Arriving at the people’s home, I met an almost mature, fifty pound dog staked close to a patio on a fifteen foot chain. There was no fenced yard. The couple who owned her had two young children, one a toddler still in diapers, the other not much older. Obviously an active large dog chained to the edge of the patio was a danger to the children. That was why she had to go.
I transferred her to a leash I had brought with me. Wow! How she fought! She not only was not interested in being with me, she had no intention in getting into my automobile. But I won. When we got home, she forgave me. Being free to roam in a fenced backyard that was about a hundred and fifty feet deep and a hundred feet wide was an unexpected luxury.
Naming her was not a problem, I had just returned from helping son Chris drive to Alaska in his jeep, all his worldly possessions piled on top and on the back with the most valuable cramped into the back seat along with his five year old son, August. Naturally, the new dog became "Yukon."
Yukon quickly emerged as our protector. Strangers had to be welcomed before she relaxed. Once, when Sheila and I were shopping, our fourteen year-old Megaera was home alone. A man she didn’t know came to the door – so did Yukon, who had been sleeping in the front room. For some reason, known only to her, Yukon didn’t like that stranger – her back hair was up, her teeth were showing and she was growling. The stranger turned and left without announcing his name or purpose for coming. I believe Yukon was right, otherwise that stranger would have backed off and announced who he was and why he was there.
We loved Yukon and Yukon loved us. Yes, when we buried our Yukon Sheila cried, I cried.
My pastor, friend and hunting partner in Canada, Frank Chubb, who died recently, once commented on love to me. His belief was that people who loved one person were incapable of not loving others. In other words, people capable of loving one other person will love others also.
I would like to expand Frank’s idea. I believe that people who are capable of loving, love. If a person can love, they will love. It may be to other people who, hopefully, are capable of returning that love, it may be to a dog, or cat or even a gold fish. But people who love, will love.
But loving doesn’t mean you don’t have responsibilities and priorities. It is love that compels a parent to punish a child for mischievous or dangerous behavior to enforce an awareness that such behavior is unacceptable. It is love that stops that punishment, especially when the parent is angry, before the punishment becomes excessive.
When teaching elementary school I loved many of my children - some were considerably more loveable than others. But those others often needed love more than the attractive, easier to teach, children. Love compels difficult actions sometimes. Love, which can be expressed in so many ways in a classroom, has priorities. Dirty children who have learned to resent school and teachers are difficult to love, but they need it more than those clean, attractive, eager to learn children. A child has times when he/she needs a bit of affection more than at other times. A good teacher recognizes that, and distributes it accordingly.
The same is true in life. Among all those we know and can or do love, some, because of our responsibilities, must come before others. Family, for example, must come before strangers, it is unfortunate that some don’t recognize that – or don’t accept it.
Note that I have not mentioned sex. I was taught, and firmly believe, that sex without love is meaningless and potentially harmful. Frank Chubb argued that sex was, and should be, the ultimate expression of love. Just as a mother demonstrates her love in the meals she prepares for her family, sex should be an expression of love. It is unfortunate that our society has cheapened it so much, changing what should be a banquet of life into a take-out hamburger.