Be good

Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.”

                              Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

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Finn is a “good dog”

he learned early on not to get on the furniture

Or chase the deer too far

He learned to sit when a car comes by

And to bring “dad” the ball

I’ve notice that not all dogs are

Quite so well behaved

Nor quite so “happy”

Are they “bad dogs”?

I suspect that with dogs, like horses

The problem is not the dog (or the horse)

But the one who owns them

And works with them….

How they behave is a reflection of how they have been treated

Of love, and kindness,

Clarity

Consistency,

Or NOT

Perhaps the true is of people too

I remember the line in “Hook”

When the little daughter of Peter Pan

says of the mean, gross, old Captain

“He’s just a mean old man without a mommy”

People are, to a great degree, what others make them

Perhaps the way we influence people become good people

Or at least better people

Is to be good people, better people, ourselves

to be love, an kindness, an compassion and generosity

to be humble, and willing to serve

there is no better evidence that the opposite is also true

that mean, cruel, arrogant, greedy souls

bring forth the same in those around them

that those who not sit in power in our country

so perhaps our energy

dear ones

needs not go, not into changing “them”

but into changing ourselves

into being the kind of people who bring “good” into the world

as always our vulnerability and goodness maybe seen

as weakness

but there is no one so weak as one who must diminish others to feel strong

so let us transform ourselves, by the renewing of our minds

the awakening of our souls

that we may know good

be filled with good (the Sacred)

and be good

(good human, good human)