The Parable of the Two Dogs

          

            One day, two puppies were basking in the sun in the back yard sleeping fitfully and enjoying the sweet smells of summer and the warm embracing air.   While they were dozing, their Master placed a beautiful stuffed animal on the ground between them.    Soon, the puppies awoke and noticed the stuffed animal.    Assuming it to be a toy meant for him, one of the dogs grabbed it in his mouth and began to prance around the yard with it hanging from his mouth.  

            The other dog saw this and wanted the stuffed animal for his own.   He raced up to the other puppy and grabbed the half of the stuffed animal that was hanging from the other dog’s mouth.   

            Suddenly it was tug of war.    Each dog dug in their heels, clamped their jaws down on their piece of the stuffed animal and pulled.   They yanked and jerked and shook and tugged.    It sounded like they were fighting, but the truth is that they were enjoying this game, and as they pulled and pulled, one could see wagging tales and hear the growling guffaws.  

            What they didn’t notice in their glee and gusto, though, was that the fabric of the stuffed animal was beginning to tear.    The joints where arms and legs were stitched together were giving way, and with each shuddering tug it tore a little more.  Soon the stuffing started to fall out on the ground, unnoticed by the players of the game.    As the dogs danced about vying to get the animal for themselves, they waltzed and two-stepped all over the stuffing, trampling and soiling it under their feet.    The commotion grew, the dogs kept, pulling, the fabric kept tearing, and stuffing kept falling to the ground. 

            Suddenly both dogs noticed at once that there wasn’t much left to  the thing that they had tried so hard to get.    They looked at each other, and as much as a dog can do this, they shrugged, released the soggy, grimy, formless, limp  fabric and let it fall to the ground.  Silently they both gazed at it for a moment.   Then they turned around, trotted away and returned to their place in the sun where they laid down and soon fell sound asleep.