Latest / Infinite Threads with Bob Barnett / The Boy Who Fed the Stray Dog

Transcript

The Boy Who Fed the Stray Dog · Infinite Threads with Bob Barnett

• 0:00
  [music]
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: Infinite Threads.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Bob.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: This week, we've been following love through little stories.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: A man held a door longer than he needed to.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: A woman kept the porch light on.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yesterday, an apology finally made its way out of a glove box.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: Today's story starts with a boy and a dog.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: Let's put them somewhere here in Oklahoma.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: The boy's about 11,
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: riding his bicycle near the edge of a neighborhood When he notices a dog lying under
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: a tree beside an empty lot.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: Brown dog, no collar, too thin.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: The boy rides past, then he stops.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: He looks back.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: The dog lifts its head but doesn't get up.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: The boy has somewhere that he's supposed to be, but he turns the bicycle around.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: He doesn't go straight up to the dog.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: Something tells him not to.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: Instead,
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: he finds an old plastic container,
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: fills it with water from a nearby outdoor faucet,
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: brings it back and sets it down a few feet away.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: The dog waits.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: Then its thirst wins.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: It gets up and drinks.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: That's when the boy really sees how thin he is, and something inside him responds.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: He doesn't know words like neglect or trauma.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: He just knows that the dog is hungry, so he goes home.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: His mother notices immediately that something is going on because children trying
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: to look innocent are rarely very convincing.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: He starts looking through the kitchen.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: What are you doing?
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: Nothing.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: Which means, of course, something is definitely happening, right?
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: Then he tells her, there's this dog.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: His mother is cautious.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: They can't simply bring home every animal he finds.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: She tells him not to get too close.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: They don't know whether the dog is frightened or sick.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: All very sensible things.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: But then she adds better food to the container.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: I like that part.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: She doesn't crush the compassion because it's inconvenient.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: She gives it wisdom.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: Over the next few days, it becomes a routine.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: The boy brings food and water.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: The dog starts waiting.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: At first from a distance, then a little bit closer.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: Eventually, the tail booms.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: Barely.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: But the boy sees it.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: A few days later, his mother comes with him.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: A neighbor gets involved.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: Someone knows someone who works with an animal rescue.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: The dog gets checked by a veterinarian and With treatment, food, and time is going to be okay.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: That right there, that could be the whole story, right?
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: Boy helps dog, everybody feels good.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: But the part that stays with me is what happened before any of that.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: The boy could have kept riding.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody would have blamed him.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: He had no responsibility for how that dog ended up under the tree.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yet, something in him wouldn't let the suffering become invisible.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: That there?
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: That?
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: That's what empathy is.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe that's one of our earliest encounters with the love force.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: Before we have the language for it.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: Before philosophy, before religion, before we can explain why another life should matter to us.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: We see pain and something in us says, do something.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: I think children often show us this before life complicates it.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: A hungry animal is hungry.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: A child crying is hurting.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: Someone alone Looks lonely.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: Then we grow up and we learn categories.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: We learn caution, which is necessary.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: We also learn how to explain why something is not our problem.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we become very good at that.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe compassion asks us not to lose the ability to notice.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: The boy did not need to take the dog home himself.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: That might not have been safe.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: Love did not require him to be reckless.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: It required attention.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: Then attention became a bowl of water.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: And then that became food.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: His mother added judgment and safety.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: Someone else knew where to find help.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: And suddenly, one child's concern had become a little network of care.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's how love often works, guys.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: One person notices and the thread begins moving.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: I think there's a lesson there for all of us.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: We can't fix everything that we see.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: We shouldn't try, probably.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: But we can resist becoming people who no longer see.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: Because the opposite of compassion is not always hatred.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it is indifference.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it is looking away, often enough that eventually we stop feeling the tug.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want that.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: Do you?
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: I don't.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: I want to keep that part of myself awake.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: The part that says there's a life here.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: What happens to it matters.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: That doesn't mean acting without wisdom.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: Mature compassion is not less tender.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: It is tenderness with judgment attached.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: It knows when to help directly,
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: when to find someone better equipped, and when a small act is enough to begin.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: The boy didn't save the world that afternoon.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: He helped one dog.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe that dog's world was enough.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: And I suspect that the boy's world changed too.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: Because every time we respond to suffering with care, we are shaping ourselves.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: Years later, he may forget exactly what food he carried down that road.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: But I bet, I bet that he remembers the dog getting up.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: I bet he remembers that first small movement of the tail.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I hope, I hope he remembers this.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: When he saw suffering, he didn't ride away.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe that's enough of an invitation for us today.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: Not to solve everything.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: Just to notice.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: To keep empathy alive.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: To ask when we see another life hurting, what can I actually do here?
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes the answer may be surprisingly small.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: A bowl of water.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: A little food.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: A phone call.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: Someone who knows someone.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: And suddenly the thread, it's moving again.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe growing up should not mean
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: Learning how to care less.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it means learning how to care well.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: I hope we never become too sophisticated to understand that.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: I love you guys very, very, very much.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: And you know what I need you to do, right?
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: Go out there and pass that on, okay?
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: Later, Gators.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: Bye-bye.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_02: Every story, every voice.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_02: In this love we all rejoice.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_02: Infinite Threads, here we go.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome friends, enjoy the show.