2020 Life Logs, Day 31: Changing the Way I Think
Date: Friday, January 31, 2020
Weather: Mostly Sunny; High 39 degrees, Low 32 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
If there was a theme in my life this week it was changing the way I think about certain things. I have been reading the fiction Pulitzer Prize winning book of the year, The Overstory by Richard Powers, that Heather gave it to me for Christmas. When you read reviews of the book, they are mixed. The Guardian review was not so favorable. The Atlantic review was laudatory. I am not quite finished with the book, but I can see both sides. But whatever side you come down on, reading the book definitely changes the way you think about trees, and more broadly about our role as ‘keepers’ of the world in which we live. I love one quote from the book, “The best arguments in the world won’t change a person’s mind. The only thing that can do that is a good story.” The Guardian review finds the story offensive. It basically says that the book was written with the purpose of converting minds to support a cause. And they say that is the opposite of literature. But the general consensus seems to be that the book was written “to help people think some other way about a world that we’re running through very quickly” and that different way of thinking is a good thing. It is definitely a story that helps reconnect us to the natural world that we have become so discounted from. And it has totally changed the way I think about trees, the forest eco-system, even the briers that I have removing from the woods around the cottage.
Today I spent my entire day reading a book by a Cape Cod author, Melissa Berryman. Sure wish I had known about Melissa and her book before I brought Shadow into my home. I would have done things very differently. But it is not too late. I just need some training to help me auto-correct. Melissa lives very close-by and trains people to better handle their dogs. Her business is called People Training for Good Dogs (PTFGD). She does not do dog training. She teaches dog owners about ‘dog handling’, or in other words, she does people training. She makes a comparison between types of dogs and Generals and Privates in the military. If you have a General, he will be in charge. If you have a Private, he’ll do what you say without question. Shadow might not have been a General when I got him, but I have allowed him to become that. Now I have to undo that. I have to be the General or the leader of the pack. It is a whole different way of thinking about being a dog owner. It fits with what Joe the Dogman said in our class on Wednesday. So much to learn. But how lucky I am that Melissa and PTFGD is less than 6 miles from here. Her training is expensive, but her approach makes so much sense to me. And I think life with Shadow will be so much better once he knows his place in the scheme of things. I will definitely become a student in training with Melissa as soon as possible.
I got word that a first cousin that I grew up with died peacefully this afternoon surrounded by family. I just talked to her three weeks ago and had no idea that her life was so close to the end. She is a year younger than me and has been struggling with different health issues for years, but still it is hard to learn that a someone so close to you in age has died. Last week my good friend Detta Porat’s mother passed away. A lot of sadness in one week. My thoughts are with Detta and her family and with my cousin Sidney Jane’s family.
