There should probably be a support group for this.
"Hi. My name is LutheranChik, and I'm addicted to Beliefnet."
"Hello, LutheranChik!"
"I am here to admit that I am powerless to resist the influence of Beliefnet discussion forums. I try to resist -- I really do -- but there's something about the vomited prooftexts, the cheesy and mostly incomprehensible faux-King James gibberish, the Messianic complexes, the reactionary points of view that just...how can I explain it?...attract me, in a sick way, like rubbernecking a car wreck on the freeway. And then I -- I just can't stop reading. And then I can't stop posting. And then I hate myself for being so weak, so vulnerable. Help me! Someone please help me!"
[Dope slap] "Stop going there, you knucklehead!"
[rubbing head] "Thanks. Thanks. I needed that."
What we have here, as the sheriff in the movie said, is a failure to communicate.
But I'm really here to talk about my dog.
My dog, as Constant Readers know, is an aged canine curmudgeon who generally hates everyone -- people, dogs, cats, horses, elephants and most other living things.
But now Cody's been spending quality time in a home with other pets. He's made friends with the resident dogs, two indulgent female golden retrievers. When he's around them he acts like a hormonal high school freshman who's accidentally stumbled into a women's locker room and found Maria Sharapova and Heidi Klum toweling off there; and the golden girls in turn treat him with a kind of amused tolerance: I'n't he just the cutest li'l fluffy thing. But, more than that, he has made friends with...a cat. You read it here. Felis domesticus.
Cito is a large, grumpy neutered tomcat who spends a considerable portion of the day sulking in a rocking chair away from the rest of the household. Humans, dogs or the other household cat who interrupt Cito's solitude are likely to be met with ears at half mast and a contemptuous look...maybe even a snarl.
But Cito and Cody, it turns out, get along just swell. Not a licky, rubby, fawning relationship, mind you. It's much more subtle: a benign nod in passing; a slight arch of the back; the hint of a tail wag.
"Dude."
"'Ssup?"
It may be a male solidarity thing, since they're outnumbered by women five to two. Or it may be a size thing; even though Cito is about twice as big as Cody, both of them are still much smaller than the humans and goldens around them. But they're tight; they're buds, in their own quirky way.
It's kind of sweet.
3 comments:
Maybe we could start our own twelve step group---I'm having the same problem on Presby blogs where the ultra conservatives are currently ranting about recent GA decisions. It makes me so discouraged and angry, but I can't stop reading. Why can't I stick to forums where folks who disagree listen (well, virtually) to each other and refrain from ad hominem attacks?
If I knew the answer to that question....
Because you mentioned beliefnet, I went to that site to see what it is about. Strange. I did the stupid belief o matic quiz. Well, maybe I'm the one who is stupid. They didn't have any anwser choices that reflected a theology of grace. I came out Quaker, first, then Liberal Protestant, then Conservative Prostestant. Even worse, when I did the find a church thing for my area, the RCs and JWs came up, as well as some sort of independent churches, but not the Lutherans, even though there are about 30 of them in the big yellow pages.
Dumb me. And why is it you keep going there?
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