Ray’s Thought for the Day - Petey and the Bulldog

Many moons ago I was werkin in the sun, just like now. That’s when I heard the proverb of the bulldog and the monkey. Seems like one of my fellow werkers had a pal who kept a bulldog and a little monkey for company. At night, the bulldog and the monkey stayed in the house. But during the day, those twain had to go out in the backyard.

Out in the backyard, the bulldog and the little monkey, were leashed up to a clothesline. That way, both those twain could galavant along, up and down the length of the clothesline, yet be constrained by the leashes. The bulldog galavanted along the ground. The monkey ran the wires.

One day, after frisking along for awhile, to and fro, back and forth, the bulldog, worn out by all the exercise, decided to take a little nap. So the bulldog lay down for a nap and was soon sound asleep, snoring contentedly, ensconced on a nice sunny spot, dreaming bulldog dreams, supine on the Bosom of the Goddess. The monkey though was wide awake, alert. There that monkey sat on the clothesline T pole, scratching his nasty little cheeks, all four. Once he had scratched all his cheeks real good, the monkey, who answered to the name, Petey, thought:

It’s not fair. Here I am, stuck out here on the clothesline with naught but a bulldog for company. And that particular bulldog is asleep. I may need to wake that bull dog up.

Stealthily Petey crept along a clothesline wire until he was just about vertical to the inert bulldog. Then, of a sudden, Petey jumped. Assisted by the mysterious force of gravity, Petey soon landed upon the inert bulldog. Then, wrapping all four of his nasty little arms and arm like legs around the bulldog, Petey determined to hang on for dear life.

Well now. Consider the bulldog’s situation. The worst thing anyone can imagine in their wildest nightmares has just afflicted that bulldog, from the perspective of that bulldog. Can you empathize with that bulldog? What if you were taking a nap, sound asleep, and suddenly a chimp jumped on you, wrapping all four of its hairy arms around you, nuzzling your ear with its chimp lips? How would you feel? Can you empathize with the bulldog?

Course, there is another perspective. In those days, werkers generally went home for dinner. So my fellow werker’s pal went home for dinner as was his custom. It was also customary, during his dinner break to go out and visit with Petey and the bulldog. So that’s what he did, head out to the back yard to visit with his company. There those twain were, racing up and down the clothesline, the frantic bulldog plus Petey, hanging on for dear life.

Now I have to suit up. It’s time for my delicious cinnamon bun.