There are times when Dulcie leaves behind questions to ponder upon by her behaviour!
The first photo is her engaging look, which is what she conveys most of the time when she is around us indoor. She follows Anna in all her moves during the day. Her longing is to be near Anna as much as possible.
When I engage her for her morning and evening walks, she often leads the walk choosing her favourite places in the garden.
There are times, when she wants to stay longer especially sunbathing in the morning sun.
The second and third photo above are of an occasion when she avoided responding to my call to go back home. She silently disengaged by looking away. A firm dissent!
When she was ready to return after a while, she moved and turned to me to announce that 'I am ready', which is what is seen in the photo below!
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At an advanced age of thirteen years for a dog of her breed, she behaves responsibly and communicatively. She behaves in a soberly manner all the time!
The dissent that I notice in public places like in a meeting or a deliberation is noisy, verbally aggressive or accusative, threatening or challenging the opposite view or even bordering to be defamatory in the language used to communicate!
Dulcie is different from all these! She is firmly expressive of her interest or choice and returns to her composed behaviour after indicating clearly that she still wants to have freedom to exercise her autonomy! She is not a conformist, but an utterly faithful companion!
I have recollections of some meetings I have been part of in the recent years. I remember listening to people who have a different opinion than what the majority in the group tends to pursue. The dissenting opinion is so presented that it gets noticed because of the way it is discussed in a measured tone, regardfully of other opinions and yet differing to bring a wholistic picture into focus on the matter under discussion.
In the book, The Gift of Years-Growing Older Gracefully, Joan Chittister while writing on Success (p115) paused a question: " Did we succeed in living gently on Earth, on creating a balance in our lives of time with nature, time with people, time with God, time for reflection, time for new kind of personal development? If not, it is time to plan our days rather than simply have them slip by unnoticed".
This 'time for new kind of personal development' is all about being ourselves and allowing others to becoming themselves.
We live in a quarrelsome ambience!
It is vocation to be a peace maker!
Dulcie sowed me that her dissent was only to claim and express her autonomy and not a reaction!
A dissent is not therefore to be made into a protest to lead to agitation or aggression. A dissent is a calling to create space for other opinions!
M.C.Mathew(text and photo)
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