When you write about animals, of course, you are really writing about the people who love and live with them. Animals mirror and reveal us. Dogs in particular are often reflections of us, and what we need them to be.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes that writing about animals often reflects the human experiences and emotions of those who care for them.
In this quote, Jon Katz suggests that our relationships with animals, particularly dogs, serve as a mirror to our own personalities and needs. By observing how we perceive and interact with our pets, we can gain insight into our own lives and the emotional connections we forge with them. The relationship is not merely one of owner and pet; it intertwines with human emotions, needs, and reflections of ourselves.
In practice
During a speech about compassion, this quote can illuminate the bonds we share with pets.
Animals have come to mean so much in our lives. We live in a fragmented and disconnected culture. Politics are ugly, religion is struggling, technology is stressful, and the economy is unfortunate. What's one thing that we have in our lives that we can depend on? A dog or a cat loving us unconditionally, every day, very faithfully.
If you have come to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is tied up with mine, then let us work together.
The act of contributing to the lives of others is its own reward. A servant's heart is a greater motivator than financial gain.
To cure jealousy is to see it for what it is, a dissatisfaction with self.
She gathers my half of the blankets around her and curls up against the wall. She will sleep for hours more, dreaming endless landscapes and novas of colour both gorgeous and frightening. If I stayed she would wake up and describe them to me. All the mad plot twists and surrealist imagery, so vivid to her while so meaningless to me. There was a time when I treasured listening to her, when I found the commotion in her soul bitter-sweet and lovely, but I can no longer bear it.
Mr. Thornton felt that in this influx no one was speaking to Margaret, and was restless under this apparent neglect. But he never went near her himself; he did not look at her. Only, he knew what she was doing — or not doing — better than anyone else in the room. Margaret was so unconscious of herself, and so much amused by watching other people, that she never thought whether she was left unnoticed or not.
It is more important to know the person who has the condition than it is to know the condition the person has.
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