Yup, I Still Wanna Be More Like My Pup
Maybe you were wondering how we're doing with our new puppy. When I last wrote about him (click Archives on the sidebar and scroll down to December 13th, and also December 6th), I said I wanted to be more like him. Still do.
We recently dubbed the puppy. The winning suggestion was my daughter's: Captain Jack, after pirate Captain Jack Sparrow, played by Johnny Depp in the recent film Pirates of the Caribbean. Which led me to rent the video and find out what she liked about this character besides his name.
Captain Jack Sparrow was winsome and clever, in spite of being a pirate. He found himself, in various circumstances, uncharacteristically doing good. This wasn't a deep movie, by any means, but if you'll indulge me -- deep down, Captain Jack Sparrow wanted to be noble.
A lot like my dog. In his now-7-month-old-puppy-heart, Captain Jack wants to do good. His strong motivation is toward doing the things we're teaching him. Once in a while, his ability to follow what he knows to do is weaker than his impulse to yield to a temptation, but his overall tendency is to do good.
Somewhat unlike me. I find myself, in various circumstances, knowing to do good but not really wanting to do good. Yet in these circumstances, I often end up doing good because I want others to think that I'm good more than I genuinely want to do good. ("Oh, Linda, you're such a good wife/mom/friend/volunteer/you-fill-in-the-blank...")
Much less noble than my puppy. He's not trying to uphold some image of his "goodness", he just wants to do good. I suppose that's natural, since we've conditioned him to expect positive reinforcement when he does, but it seems purer.
I want a heart-change that enables me to be motivated to do good, even if nobody notices or says a word. Just my knowing I'm doing good would start my tail wagging. Yup, I still wanna be like Captain Jack.
We recently dubbed the puppy. The winning suggestion was my daughter's: Captain Jack, after pirate Captain Jack Sparrow, played by Johnny Depp in the recent film Pirates of the Caribbean. Which led me to rent the video and find out what she liked about this character besides his name.
Captain Jack Sparrow was winsome and clever, in spite of being a pirate. He found himself, in various circumstances, uncharacteristically doing good. This wasn't a deep movie, by any means, but if you'll indulge me -- deep down, Captain Jack Sparrow wanted to be noble.
A lot like my dog. In his now-7-month-old-puppy-heart, Captain Jack wants to do good. His strong motivation is toward doing the things we're teaching him. Once in a while, his ability to follow what he knows to do is weaker than his impulse to yield to a temptation, but his overall tendency is to do good.
Somewhat unlike me. I find myself, in various circumstances, knowing to do good but not really wanting to do good. Yet in these circumstances, I often end up doing good because I want others to think that I'm good more than I genuinely want to do good. ("Oh, Linda, you're such a good wife/mom/friend/volunteer/you-fill-in-the-blank...")
Much less noble than my puppy. He's not trying to uphold some image of his "goodness", he just wants to do good. I suppose that's natural, since we've conditioned him to expect positive reinforcement when he does, but it seems purer.
I want a heart-change that enables me to be motivated to do good, even if nobody notices or says a word. Just my knowing I'm doing good would start my tail wagging. Yup, I still wanna be like Captain Jack.
posted by Linda at
10:58 AM
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