All the Toys

Sandy

All the toys should be mine. Instead, my human betrayed me. I spent all afternoon carefully assembling them in one spot. It took a lot of work, a lot of patience, and a lot of stealth. I couldn’t let the other dogs see me as I took each one and collected them.

Finally, I had them all the toys in one defensible spot and laid down to play with them. All of them. All for myself.

Tattle-tale Arya

Arya told on me. She tried to grab a toy. But all the toys are mine now and I told her so. I gave her my serious back-off growl. My human heard me and came to see what was going on.

I expected her to congratulate me on my great work. At the very least, she should have backed me up. But no.

She started talking: “blah blah share blah blah.” She even took some of the toys and gave them to the other dogs. My toys! After I worked so hard!

I am so disappointed with her and so angry I won’t even look at her. I don’t want to be in the same room. I will probably change my mind about that by bedtime, because the bed is way comfier than the couch.

Suzanne

At first this didn’t seem like a good wisdom topic – selfish? Not sharing? Hoarding all the toys? But . . .

The first step to wisdom is self-awareness. Yes, I just made that up, but I think it is true. You can’t transcend what you don’t acknowledge. Dang, that sounds deep.

Sandy was self-aware. She knew what she wanted: all the toys.

She also knew who she wanted to share with: no one.

All the Toys

Sandy was willing to plan. She was patient while she worked her plan. Step by step. Not rushing, she collected all the toys. I admire that. And I will remember. This beagle mix is smarter and craftier than I gave her credit for.

She is willing to share, but mostly she prefers to share her bad habits.

But not all the toys were Sandy’s to begin with. Arya brought her own toys with her. To my human mind, that mattered. Right now, Sandy is giving me the cold shoulder. I expect that will thaw by bedtime.

Is Selfishness Evil?

Apparently Sandy has a way to go on her spiritual journey, but who doesn’t?

Still I am not convinced that selfishness is evil. It is unpopular to be sure, but evil. I don't think so. And I am not the only one.