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13 August 2017

I heard this...

...the other day and found it rather profound.
       
           "A dog never barks at a parked car."

At first hearing it caught my attention and then I began to ponder upon it.

I have been barked at by many a dog in my days.  I have seen dogs bark at leaves, bark at the moon, bark at other dogs, and cats.  I have seen dogs bark at the wind, and unseen forces on the other side of fences.  I have seen dogs bark at basically anything that moves and some things that didn't but that they thought did (get of the couch and take your dog for a walk).  I have seen dogs bark for no other reason than that they have heard another dog barking.  However I can't say that I have ever seen a dog bark at a parked car.

I have been chased by dogs, some with intent to do me harm and some for play.  I have been chased on foot, on bike and on motorcycle and car.  I have never enjoyed it much when being the chasee, but the chaser seemed to be finding some satisfaction from it even if there was little chance of capturing the prey.  And if the dog caught the car what would it do with it?

I have heard that we have a tendency to notice motion, that our eye is attracted to it.  I am sure someone will be more than willing to say it is a link to our hunter/gatherer forebears that was a survival instinct that was handed down from the days of living in caves.  Personally I think it is handy for noticing when someone loses a ball that is coming into the street and braking or swerving before the little someone that lost that ball heads out to retrieve it.

Regardless of the source or reason, the ability to notice movement is swiftly followed by the decision to act on it...or not.  The fact that movement or action is more likely to be followed up with more movement and action is kind of a way of life.  That is why they call it reaction.  It is easier to react to something that is already in action.  The term 'critical mass' is basically a moment when the amount of reaction goes 'viral' and then everyone is doing it.

Everyone is doing it.  How often do we read a book, see a movie or tv show, vote for a candidate or proposition, recycle, eat kale, run a marathon, park in the wrong spot, criticize a group, boycott a store, protest a cause just because 'everyone is doing it'?

I will freely admit that I have in the past and in the present and in the future done things based on the recommendations of others, but with age and experience I have also not done things based on the recommendations of others.  I still prefer to choose my own walk.

Since the parked car does not react to the dog barking at it, the dog losses interest and quits barking at parked cars, but if the car is moving it must of course be reacting to the dog barking at it.  And if the dog is only barking at moving cars and ignoring the parked ones, it is only in reaction mode even if it things it is the one causing the movement.  In order to get the dog to bark, motion must be added to the equation.

Therefore is it better to be the dog that thinks he is driving the reaction of the car by barking and chasing it or to be the chasee that is causing the initial motion that attracts the dog that gives rise to the chase in the first place?

Another saying goes, 'If you are not the lead dog, the view never changes', but even if you are the lead dog that is leading the 'chase' the view may be different but it also never changes.  At least until you are winded and you can return to the home-front knowing all is safe and well again.

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farrwest.

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