Not All Who Bark, Bite (The Wolf Who Cried Man) - By Samuel Gregory Korn

 

What is annoyance to your heart, may mean everything to another. And discarding any heart which bleeds for you, may destroy more than you know

A man walks outside one day to find a dog he had never seen before laying in front of his house

As soon as the dog noticed him it began to bark

Not unfriendly or vicious barking, because the dog was not a vicious dog. Just regular, non-threatening barking

The dog did not seem aggressive or dangerous to the man, it just kept on barking at him

The man walked out onto the front road and looked around, trying to find the dogs owners. But his street was empty, there was nobody to be found

Still the dog continued to bark at him, as if it were talking to him

The man ignored the dog and went about his business, not returning home till later that night

When he arrived home, the man was surprised to find the dog still laying outside his house

As soon as the dog noticed the man, it again began to bark at him

As it was late, the man didn’t think too much about it. He just ignored the dog again and went inside to sleep

The next day when the man went outside, he found that the dog was still laying there waiting for him. And once again it started barking as soon as it noticed him

The dog and its barking now seemed very strange to the man. Again he checked up and down his street, to see if he could locate the dogs owners. This time he took a walk along his street to see if the dog may have escaped from one of his neighbours yards. He checked to see if any of them may have left their gate or fence open

But all his neighbours fences were closed. Their gates all shut and secure

So who did the dog belong to? Where did it come from?

The dog followed the man as he went on his walk, barking at him all the way

Once again the man just ignored the dog and went out, going about his business. And once again it was waiting for him, barking, when he returned home

This continued for about a month, until the man decided that he had had enough of the dog, and of it constantly barking at him

He grabbed the dog by the scruff of its neck and dragged it up the street away from his house

Once they were a good distance away from his house, he let the dog go and yelled at it “SHOO!”

“GET AWAY FROM ME! GET AWAY FROM MY HOUSE!”

The dog gave the man a puzzled look as he started walking back towards his house

The man walked home, again ignoring the dog, which followed him all the way, barking as it did

The next day when the dog was still outside, and still barking at him, the man got cross

Walking over to the dog, he grabbed it by the mane and threw it roughly out onto the road. He did this with enough force that it hurt the dog and made it yelp

The dogs natural instinct when it is hurt in such a way, is to bite

So the dog bit the man

Not a vicious bite, because the dog was not a vicious dog. The dog did not maul the man, just gave him a little nip

Enough to tell the man that it hurt and to let go

But the dogs bite made the man bleed. So the man decided, that the dog must go

The man called the local council and reported the dog. And not long after, the dog-catcher came and took the dog away

After spending some time in a council cage, without anyone coming to claim ownership, or being able to find a new home for the dog, it was put to sleep

Killed, for nothing more than its bark

Then, not long after the dog died, so too did the man that it had been barking at

One day he fell ill, and the next he was dead

The man had no idea that he was sick until it was too late

As he had no symptoms, the man did not realise that a disease had been slowly eating away at his body. Rotting him, from the inside out

But the dog did

The very first time the man walked outside and the dog smelled his scent, it could tell that the man was very sick

The dog had literally smelt death on him

So the dog had tried to tell him. Tried to warn him

But the man did not listen

He did not stop, slow down or rest. He just ignored the dog and its warnings as he passed it each day

The smell of sickness did not get better. The dog could smell it getting worse each time he saw the man

So the dog stayed with the man to look after him

And the dog kept trying to warn him

The dog stayed and kept watch over the sick man and his house while he was away

And the dog waited for the man each day, to see if he had gotten any better

The dog took nothing from the man and expected nothing in return

And for this, the man had the dog killed

Because the dog was seen as a ‘annoyance’ by the man who didn’t understand how truly beautiful it was

A man who didn't want to see or understand how truly beautiful it was

He threw the dogs life away as worthless, because he was too blind to see just how much love the dog had in its heart for him, though they had never met

The man looked at the dog as though it didn’t matter

While the dog looked to him like nothing else mattered

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What you don’t know, or understand, can still hurt you

What you don’t want to know, can still end up hurting you
Or worse, it can end up hurting more than just you

What you ignore, can still end up hurting you
And will likely end up hurting others

Would you close yourself off to things which will hurt others, to save yourself hurt?

What you think not worth bothering with, could be the biggest loss of your life

Remember that all hearts are precious

Don’t be careless with a bleeding heart, as it may be one that bleeds just for you. One which beats just for you

That which annoys you, is usually begging to be heard

Remember that some of the most important things are often the hardest to see

Be careful with what, or who, you disregard or destroy. As it may very well be something more precious and beautiful than you’ll ever know

Remember that the bark of dog about to attack you, sounds exactly the same as the bark of a dog which is defending you

All life is precious
Whether you understand it or not

Samuel Gregory Korn