Hanz- Hear The Mighty Tree Fall

Hanz is an old dog. He has reached the age where sleep begins to eat into your day like moths into a wool sweater forgotten in a lost closet. When you begin to realize how much energy it takes to simply get up, let alone say anything. He lays on his musty blue blanket, watching his brothers run around arguing about trivial issues with disappointed, cloudy eyes. Such wasted energy. We take him to the doctor because he’s starting to look skinny. A white coat smirks and tells us there is no cure for old. I can’t imagine wagging my tail after hearing such a thing but he always does.

Hanz is a German Shorthaired Pointer. A hunting dog who has traveled the world. At one time he was young and strong, strutting through the woods with his head high and his tail straight looking for his next victim. Time is now his prey and he kills it as well as the hares he chases in his dreams as his feet twitch and scratch the hardwood floor.

Take a look at the world old man. You can’t run out into it like you once could but I bet you see it clearer than ever. Each bark you reach down into your stomach to pull out carries a handful of wisdom that is thrown into the air and misinterpreted as simple requests to primitive ears. No wonder you stopped trying. Stupid humans.

Hanz’s body is constantly shaking. If you put both hands on his stomach and apply pressure you can feel the anxiety evaporate out of his body. What are you nervous about old man? Do you sense the rollercoaster of life beginning to slow down and return to a place that resembles where it took off from? Is there something you dreamed of doing that you never got the chance to follow through on? Or is the life of a dog not so complicated? Lucky you.

I saw a commercial the other day for a company called “A Place To Put Mom”. Good lord! How did we become to feel so entitled as a people? Just imagine… what if you could count the number of steps you were able to take every day? I bet you’d learn the world around you much better. You’d probably realize that most squirrels aren’t worth chasing but a family member leaving is always worth seeing to the door. What if you had enough time to write a book but only enough energy to say a sentence?  You’d probably speak timeless wisdom and, like the mighty tree that falls after centuries of living, expect an audience with eager ears.

Kane Smego tells this story better than I ever could:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXyQYPzOsqs]