Best friends stick together

During my trips I’ve seen countless stray dogs abandoned by their owners by the side of the road or the outskirts of towns and I was enraged every time I heard the excuses people used to justify abandoning their pets:

 

– That they have to move or go traveling and it’s difficult to travel with a dog.

 

– That they don’t have space.

 

– That they don’t have time.

– They have behaviorar problems.

– Moving to a place that doesn’t allow pets.

– It’s too big now.

– It’s too expensive.

 

– I call bullshit on all of them. So what if it’s difficult? We don’t stop doing something just because it’s difficult. ‘Difficult’ is how we grow, it’s how we learn things. Life is difficult, relationships are difficult, everything is difficult if we so choose it to be or if we choose to see it that way.

 

So yes, whether it’s difficult or not you’re right, but you don’t just abandon a living being that adores you and would give their lives for you because it’s ‘difficult’.

 

– So what if you don’t have space? You just make space or look for a space. You know your dog doesn’t need a lot of space, Bong Gu and I have been homeless for about two years now. We slept outdoors for the most part of 2016 and we never thought it was difficult. It was an experience that’s for sure. Maybe it was difficult but we didn’t notice because we were too busy having the time of our lives.

 

– So what if you don’t have time? You just make time! I’ve had about 10 jobs since adopting my job and she came with me to each one of them. I know it’s difficult but we find a way because we have to and we want to and it’s well worth the effort.

 

 

– They have behavioral problems? So what? Teach them, train them, understand them. Learn to bond and connect with them on their level, educate yourself so you can educate them. It’s difficult? So what? Just do it anyway.

 

 – Your new place doesn’t allow pets? Well, Just look for a place that DOES allow pets. You wouldn’t abandon your child because your new place doesn’t allow children. 

The way Bong Gu and I go about finding a place to live/eat/sleep/shop etc. Is the following, we go anywhere and ask:

“Can I come in with a little dog?” (To a restaurant/shop)

“Can I stay here with a little dog?” (To a hotel)

“Can you take me with a little dog?” (To the bus/boat/train/taxi/car driver)

So what if they say no? There’s always another restaurant next door, another hotel a block away and another car/bus coming after it.

– So what if it gets big? Animals grow, it just means it will be able to protect you more. It means there is more of him or her to hug and cuddle, it means more love for you.

– It’s expensive? I don’t think so, dogs can eat rice, carrots, potatoes, pumpkin, any kind of meat, and lots of inexpensive grains, tuberculous, beans, fruits, and veggies. Your dog doesn’t really care what it eats, they are adaptable like that, and they’d rather eat little but stay with you than eat a lot but missing you badly.

There were times when all Bong Gu and I had to eat were rice, lentils, and bananas but we made it through. It wasn’t much more expensive to cook for just me than it was to cook for the two of us.

 If it’s difficult we find a way and we do it anyway.

 

 

From Bong Gu

There are so many things I need to tell you.

But even though I can’t speak your language, I still try to tell you in my own way.

I know you don’t eat meat, and you don’t like white rice much but you still buy the meat and the rice for me because you know I need it, and I know when we go to a restaurant you ask them to cook something special for me, and you have to explain to them how to cook it, and explain I can’t eat chili, and you always take a plastic bag to give them so they can put my food into and they won’t need to use their own bowls. Thank you for that…

I know you are tired sometimes, but you still go out because you know I  need to run and use the toilet, thank you for that also…

You know I don’t like staying home alone, so you always take me to your office, to meet people, to eat, for shopping, for exercise, trips out of town, and I really like that…

You put my bed next to your yours because you know I like sleeping next to you, if we sleep in a hotel you put a towel next to your bed, if it’s not your house you ask someone to put something soft for me to sleep on, if we have to sleep in the forest you soften the soil and find some leaves for me, if we sleep in the tent we can share the sleeping bag, if we ride the bike you put a cushion for me to sit on, that is very sweet of you…

If we go on long trips, you take extra water and some food you know I like to eat, thank you…

You know I get frightened easily, but instead of shouting or getting angry, you sit on the floor next to me and comfort me and tell me it’s ok, you are there for me when I need you the most, and that is important for me.

When I am very happy or excited I can get dirty and sometimes I jump in the pond or the mud just for fun, you understand me and give me a shower when we get home, I love you for that.

You don’t use a leash because you know it makes me feel uncomfortable and you trust that I won’t stray or get into trouble and I will walk by your side, thank you.

And I really appreciate that you adopted me when I was a puppy and for that, I will stay with you forever.

Thank you.

 

Nothing

I have recently come to terms with the fact that its ok to answer “nothing” to the question “what do you do”.



Most of my life everyone around me said: “Bruno, you have to do something, you have to be someone, you have to do this and that, you have to be this and that.”


You are what you do, they said. Our jobs make us proud, gives us honor, makes us decent people, if you don’t have a job you are a bad person and nobody will respect you, they said. 


If you don’t work you will not have money, and you’ll have a hard life, they said.


But they forgot to mention the pain and the sadness I would feel riding the subway on the way home while coming back from work at 9.30 pm and seeing everyone’s sad faces. You can ride for hours and not see a single smiley person. 


They didn’t tell me how miserable I would feel while walking the same streets every day at the same time, how monotonous my life will become.


Nobody mentioned the stress I would feel, how sick it would make me, and how hard it would be to fall asleep at night, thinking of all the stressful things that happened during the day, and thinking what’s waiting for me tomorrow.


And of course, they also forgot to tell me about that feeling in the morning, when I know I hadn’t had enough sleep, but I still have to get up and go somewhere I don’t want to go and do something I don’t want to do. 


And about all those times when I wish I were dead, no one told me about that either.


I wish someone had said to me when I was young “you don’t need to do anything or be anything, just relax and stop taking life so damn serious!”.


I wish someone had explained to me how stress works, wish they had explained to me what chemicals come out of sports or meditation. And wish someone had told me it was ok to do nothing, that life is too short to spend it fulfilling other people’s expectations.




So now that I learned all of that by myself, I can confidently answer “nothing” when people say “what do you do?”.


Of course it’s not true, I don’t do nothing, I go to Korean class 6 times a week now, do some part-time acting and teaching, hiking and taek won do, volunteering, reading, writing, play football, travel often, meet people, go out almost every day and do a bunch of stuff more.




And everyone does lots of things, but the reason to answer “nothing” is just not saying what they want to hear, they want to hear “I study” or “I work” or better yet, “I work AND study” so they can feel like you are an obedient member of society contributing to it daily. Therefore paying, what in their minds are, your dues for being alive.


In order live on this planet and not being rejected by the members of its society, you need to either study or work.




What we see here is that the herd doesn’t need a shepherd anymore, and anyone who dares to threaten their beliefs, will be immediately left behind to survive on their own.


They have created a system that auto protects itself, by isolating and excluding any individual who doesn’t want to do what the others are doing. Anyone who doesn’t want to work or study will be left out of the herd.




Bruno: But life is too short to just study or work, don’t you think so?


You: No.