Week 3: I Did This And so Should You

                Picture me, a frightened 21 year old young man, parking his girlfriend’s red Volkswagen Beetle into an animal shelter on a stormy Friday afternoon. I just sit in the car, debating if making the decision of adopting an animal is feasible with my lifestyle. Would a dog be too much work? Did I have enough time? Enough money? Enough space, to own a dog? I wasn’t comfortable, but I did know, however, that this stormy Friday afternoon would change my life. 

Among the first 21 years of my life I have done very few things worth mentioning to a general audience let alone getting recognition. Sure, I have a few personal triumphs such as athletic notoriety and scholastic achievement, but when I was asked to write an assignment with the premise “I did this and so should you,” I couldn’t think of anything until this previous weekend. This past weekend, I visited an animal shelter, Pima Animal Care Center, and after a nerve-wracking couple of minutes I adopted a dog.

                I am by no means a humanitarian or animal rights activist. I was simply interested in getting my girlfriend a gift for her 21^st birthday. But when browsing this beautiful animal shelter I simply couldn’t withhold my emotion any longer. When I saw this gorgeous border-collie lab mix stare at me with a particular purpose, with those sparkling amber eyes, fluffy fur, and shaggy black tail with the slightest bit of white at the tip, I simply just knew. I knew that I was going to adopt a dog that Friday, September 9^th, 2011. I knew that I was unbelievably underprepared; I was then certain that my life was going to change forever.

                   I am also not encouraging those of you who are as incredibly impulsive and as underprepared as I was to adopt a dog. This paper is not intentionally to guilt trip you into adopting a dog, like watching a painful Sarah McLaughlin animal donation commercial. I am just writing this to document that Miley, my new puppy of 7 months, has changed my life. Words cannot describe the emotion a dog or pet of any kind brings to a person. I, myself didn’t even know what that meant until four days ago.

                I presume that most students around my age had similar emotions that I had before adopting Miley that day. Most of my peers fall into a habitual routine of predictability. A mundane wake up, go to school or work, then sleep schedule. It seems that we are sucked into a concept where life is about getting over the dreading upcoming event and letting it pass, and looking forward to an event or day that seems like an eternity away that lasts for a fraction of a second. This concept, which is true for many people, is just not a positive way of living.

                Maybe I’m again being presumptuous, but I believe the fun from life comes from spontaneity and unpredictability. People, in my opinion, have the best time when a great thing happens to them unknowingly. Take a surprise party for example. You think the day is going to be normal, just like any other day. Your friend or family member calls and says he or she is picking you up. Then out of nowhere, a party! A day that you will remember forever, where all of the people you love are and set up for just for you. And the key to that happiness was that you didn’t know it was coming.

                A dog, for all intents and purposes is like having surprise party every day. Every day since picking up Miley, I wake up to a kiss on the cheek; I get showered with love all morning, and every night when I come home from school. When I’m away from her I miss her, and when I return to her, she is always excited.  With Miley, every day is not mundane, every day is not normal, and everyday will not be memorable, but I will remember her, forever. 

                Another disclaimer, I am not a philosopher, or a “deep” person as far as those standards go. I do know that people get scared of trying to achieve happiness, in fear of being irresponsible and something bad happening as a result. A dog is one of those fears. I am now a firm believer that love, of any kind, is what augments happiness. Miley, and other dogs and animals alike, are easy to love creatures. In fact, all they need is love. They don’t have the baggage that human happiness has. They don’t have anxiety, they don’t fall into a depressing routine, and they don’t care about anything but the attention of their owners. They just get love and give love.

                I am not the kind of person to say “I did this, so you should do this.” I am not saying that my opinion, judgment, or beliefs regarding animal adoption should be accepted and applied just from reading this paper. I am just recording my emotions so that if a person needs love, and is afraid of it then they can be confident in adopting an animal. Miley, in the short 96 hour period where she has been mine, has surprisingly lit up my life. From the moment we drove off from the care center to the moment I woke up next to her this morning, I now know that a dog is a precious commodity. Their love is truly unconditional, something that is both rare and valuable. If you need some affection and have enough time on your hands, I would strongly suggest giving an animal a home. So if you’re asking, “should I do this, if you did this?” Yes you should.

 ctivity of any kind.