Cheeky

 There's an old expression that says, "Man is the only animal that laughs, and has a state legislature." I always figured that the former was because of the latter. Maryland's state legislature is always full of embarrassment for the entire state and we don't need any more of that. This latest episode, which features a male delegate who has been in plenty of trouble before telling a female state delegate that she is more attractive than another female who previously testified, is the sort of thing that makes good people cringe and shake their heads.

Cringing is sort of like blushing, and as Mark Twain put it, "Man is the only animal that blushes, or needs to." I know that we humans like to ascribe human characteristics to animals - they call that anthropomorphism - but I am fairly certain that dogs don't smile and cats don't laugh and giraffes don't cry at sad movies and alligators don't register joy and iguanas don't feel excitement and deer don't feel contempt.  It seems that the animal kingdom deals with basic emotions that concern having food to eat and water to drink and shelter from the elements and an occasional new outfit, and that's it. They really don't have time to envy another cow or hold a grudge because of something that happened six months ago.

I'm not saying that your pet doesn't love you. They do. But it's a simple kind of love. They love you for providing them with those basic elements, and you love them for keeping your feet warm at night, so you and your warm feet get up in the morning and dole out the kibble and water and clean up the poop. 

Our neighbor who passed away in December left behind a dog who loved her very much, and she in turn loved the dog too and arranged for a friend to adopt the pooch. With the sense that God gave a dog, the chances are that Roxy is happy and healthy in her new home. She misses her original companion, sure, but her instinct tells her to live out her days as well as she can.

Meanwhile, a man drives to Annapolis to make laws for us to live by, and he lacks the sense that a dog would have, not to insult the looks of another person, or judge the validity of someone's case based on their appearance.

I think we would be better if we were more like the animals.