marley & me

Sunday, August 05, 2007 T: 18 48

“It was an amazing concept that I was only now, in the wake of his death, fully absorbing: Marley as a mentor. As teacher and role model. Was it possible for a dog – any dog, but especially a nutty, wild uncontrollable one like ours – to point humans to the things that really mattered in life? I believed it was. Loyalty. Courage. Devotion. Simplicity. Joy. And the things that did not matter, to. A dog has no use for fancy cars or big homes or designer clothes. Status symbols mean nothing to him. A waterlogged stick will do fine. A dog judges others not by their color or creed or class but by who they are inside. A dog doesn’t care if you are rich or poor, educated or illiterate, clever or dull. Give him your heart, and he will give you his. It was really quite simple, and yet we humans, so much wiser and more sophisticated, have always trouble figuring out what really counts and what does not.” – John Grogan, Marley &Me

I think I made a fool of myself in a MRT. It’s not often one sees a grown up guy, standing 6 foot tall, reading a book, with a pair of earphones in his ears, with tears welling up his eyes, sliding down his cheeks every now and then. I could feel the curious looks, but I think I was quite engrossed in the book. A part of me wanted to finish the book to the end and be done and satisfied with it. A part of me wanted to just rush through the ending, even stop reading, because I simply could not stop the tears from accumulating in my eyes, from clouding my vision every other minute.

But I’m not ashamed of myself. After all, here is a book which describes a dog who knows boundless love, who knows how to give, who know people probably better than sometimes we ourselves do. Here’s an author who could gallantly recounted he had cried over his dead dog. Here’s a lovely recount of the dog who knows the meaning of loyalty and devotion, selflessness and happiness.

I have met people who enjoy calling other people ‘dogs’. To them, I feel like retorting, “I wish I’m a dog as well!’ and see their astonished faces, laughing at their failed attempts in verbally assaulting me. I meant that. I wish I’m a dog. I want to be carefree, to be like Marley, to not fear letting the world know my feelings. I want to be able to do anything when I’m elated and ecstatic and not cramp my feelings of euphoria in me, in order to still be able to proclaim myself sane. It is them who really knows how to love, how to show their affection to the people, to others who they enjoy being with. They know no shame as they lurch at their owners in public, licking them to death. They know no shame when they tear away with a shoe enough. They understood loyalty. Dog owners would know they will always have someone who will miss them, who will think of them when they are not around. Like what Grogan has wrote, they will give their hearts to whoever who give them theirs. They do not backstab. Sometimes, I wonder if they can love more than us humans. Dogs need not worry about not going to heaven, because they do not worry about going to hell either. And if they got good owners, they will leave this world knowing they have spend a great majority of their life loving and be loved; they will leave this world having experienced true love. At least I’m sure Marley must have.

And so here’s to John Grogan and Marley for sharing with us their love story. Here’s to the dogs who can express themselves without shame, who in a doggy sense know the meaning of unconditional love and forgiveness, who have given their owners and handlers a time of their lives and teach us that sometimes there’s really something more to the paper and money chase.