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.
People give one another things that can't be gift wrapped.
Personal relations are the important thing for ever and ever, and not this outer life of telegrams and anger.
What God hath joined together no man shall put asunder: God will take care of that.
Our mission... it will be difficult, it will take time, it will be demanding for all men and women... will be to act in such a way that French people of the Muslim faith are always more proud of being French than of being Muslim.
It's a big error to think that because you like somebody's work, you're going to like him.
Many families remain for years in the same place, though both husband and wife are sick of it, simply because there is neither complete division nor agreement between them.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.