Once again I am in need of feedback. Classmates didnt do the work, so I didnt get my work reviewed. Peer reviews only work if everyone does them. This is the rough draft. three pages double spaced explaining hidden Beauty to an intelligent alien. Please take a moment and read this, any feedback would be helpful. Greetings Zargh, I hope your journey home was pleasant. I have been quite busy since you left and finally find myself a little time to think about the time we did get to spend with each other. I enjoyed the hours we spent lost in discussion, jumping from subject to subject with a chaotic disregard for logic. I’m still amazed at how often we would come to common ground and then just as quickly be lost again. Even as different as we are we found a lot in common. I was afraid when you left we would not get to talk again, but as you promised the link seems to be working. Now we can communicate, just remember there is a week or so delay. There was so much that we talked about but we didn’t get to finish talking about what is beauty. It was easy at first, you see and understand a lot of things that I also see as obvious beauty. It was the idea of unseen or hidden beauty that I think I may have lost you. After some thought, I may have a way of explaining this. I remember learning that there are no animals were you come from. How amazed and horrified you were when you saw a dog, the disbelief at the idea that they live with us and even work with us. Many years ago, my son was just a young boy, not quite 4. I had until then been a stay at home dad. But we had decided that when he was old enough to go to school, I would go back to work. During that time I had also taken classes online and got a degree. I didn’t intend to work so many hours, but before I realized I was working 50-60 hours a week. It was what I had to do to get established. It only took me a couple of years to start my own Firm. But those first years were hard and my boy started to have bad dreams. After some discussion we decided to take him to a therapist; Sorry, someone who is trained to help with these matters. The therapist suggested that a dog might be a solution. That our boy was feeling insecure because I was working so much. I was horrified at the thought. I had been bitten by a dog as a child. I was not bringing a dog into my house. But my spouse is very persuasive. Add to that another week of bad dreams, and I agreed to get a dog on the condition that my spouse had to train the dog. It all went better than I expected. They went and picked out a female pup. My son was so happy and proud of himself the day they brought her home. “I picked her, daddy!” he proudly proclaimed. I then asked why he picked her and he said “She has a badge.” He was referring to the small white patch on her chest. I was glad to see him happy, but was not yet comfortable with the new member of our family. The pup was house trained by 6 months, she was a quick learner. My spouse was always showing me another trick they taught the puppy. I avoided the puppy as much as possible but was starting to learn that the puppy didn’t avoid me. She seemed to like me and was determined to get me to play. Looking back, the situation was rather comical. Spring came and my spouse took my son on a trip to visit relatives. I couldn’t go, so I stayed home with the pup. I wasn’t happy about it, the puppy on the other hand was pleased. She followed me like a shadow, always wanting to play. I was starting to get frustrated and annoyed. The first night the pup slept on the floor by the bed. It was as if she was trying to protect me. I fell asleep quickly. I was awakened by the puppy whining. She had an accident. So as I went to get up and as I did there was a flash of lightning followed by thunder loud enough to rattle the windows. Before I could react, the pup was in my lap and shivering. I cleaned up the mess and then sat on the couch with the pup. As the storm ramped up, so did the pups’ anxiety. I couldn’t let her be miserable so I drew her close to me and laid down. I don’t know how long it was but eventually we both fell asleep to the sound of falling rain. I stroked the warm, soft fur of her head to calm her and found comfort myself. This was the bonding moment, I accepted her as part of the family. She lost her fear of storms, but always climbed into my bed on most rainy nights. I looked forward to those nights. Over the years she looked after my boy and brought my family much happiness. Always ready to play, she was a fountain of energy. But eventually she started to slow down and turn grey. Such is life, except that I had never considered that all life ends. I never thought all those years ago that we would have to say good-bye. By this time my boy is becoming a young man. On this morning on his way out he grabbed the trash as he took the dog out. My young man was surprised by a large raccoon which charged him. The dog stepped in between them and a scuffle ensued. It was only a vicious, snarling moment. She had done her job and chased off the raccoon, but she lost the fight. Her age betrayed her, leaving her too slow to avoid injury. I stroked the fur on her head as she lay dying in my lap. As I looked at her I realized that I was looking at beauty. This dog, that I had not wanted at first, had given my family unconditional love and ultimately her life. Now we have already concluded that love, freely given , can be beautiful. I came to love that dog. But it’s not just that. Before her, I never even really looked at dogs. But now many years later and I still feel how soft she was, I can still see her big brown eyes. I find stormy nights beautiful now because they remind me of her. I wasn’t looking for beauty when I agreed to let a dog into my house, but that is what I found. Thanks for the help WolF
Posted on: Thu, 13 Feb 2014 01:51:19 +0000