When I was a teenager, we had a poodle mix mutt named Fritz that was always dragging something he’d killed home from the woods: a groundhog, possum, raccoon …. So, I decided to take him hunting with me one day. Sure enough, he jumped a rabbit & flushed it right out in front of me. I let go with a blast from my shotgun but missed the rabbit. Fritz made a hard-left turn & ran the whole way home. He never came near me again whenever I had a gun in my hand.
Because I didn’t take the time to train him to expect the gunshot he became gun-shy. I ruined what otherwise could have been a great hunting dog. The truth is, I didn’t know how to train him therefore had no business taking him hunting.
There are a lot of things we don’t know how to do but we do them anyway. Were you really prepared to get married or raise children? Did you expect to be doing half the things you now do when you took the job you have? Was the house you are living in the low-maintenance dream you thought it was when you signed the papers?
We’re actually quite reckless! Sadly, sometimes the victim of our adventuresome spirit is some innocent bystander. We need to do more apologizing than defending; more forgiving than condemning. After all, even though the actions of others can, at times, cause us pain – chances are we’ve caused others pain also.