Seeking Wisdom

Colleges and Universities are places of advanced learning and thought. Notre Dame is special in that it is also a place where you can discuss religion regularly. I very often find myself in spirited discussions with co-workers and friends on almost any topic. One of the most fascinating things about the discussions (for me) is that my protagonist can be anyone from a fellow information technology worker, to an administrative assistant, to the dean of a college or a tenured senior professor.

While a friend (a professor of science) and I were about to part ways after a short walk– him to his classroom and I to my office, I spied a baby rabbit (yes, a “bunny”).

It was looking for food in the shade of two buildings on campus. After remarking on how well fed this little bunny was, my friend shared his hatred for all rabbits. It seemed that, especially during the spring, his dog (a Beagle) would bark incessantly at rabbits which traversed his yard in search of food.

We entered an honest if not totally sincere argument. My learned colleague argued that he hated the rabbits and blamed them for the headaches caused by the Beagle’s barking.

I argued for the furry creatures – it was the dog my friend should despise not the rabbit.

In the middle of our debate, my boss’ boss’ boss showed up. I enlisted his wise council to settle the argument. Pointing to the bunny, I summarized our discussion. To this modern day Solomon I posed the question – so, who is to blame for the barking? The Dog or the Bunny?

Without pause he adjudicated with wisdom and a smile. Neither. It is the dog’s owner who is to blame.

My friend of course objected, to which our judge simply asked, “did you not know that Beagle’s are high strung dogs, prone to bark at everything and anything?” My friend actually smiled and acquiesced.

I learned that my leader had actually experienced something which profoundly suited him to be our arbiter that day. His son had wanted a dog. Being a teaching parent, my boss told him to do research and determine the right type of dog to get. This lead to excluding Beagles and other breeds because of their temperaments. It also eliminated other breeds. His son found out that mix breeds can be a good choice as in many cases the negative traits many of each independent breed are eschewed in the mix. He not only learned about the different tendencies, personalities and temperaments of the breeds and mixed breeds but he also learned how to perform a “puppy test” to tell if a puppy would be trainable and a good pet. After all of the research, his son chose wisely and they are still happy today with the choice. His son was only 10 at the time.

I was heartened by the story – I realized there was hope for my friend (who is past 50) yet…