Recently I was stopped at a traffic light when I saw a homeless man struggling with his shopping cart. It was on a sloping portion of the sidewalk and he appeared to be trying to put his bedroll and a few other belongings inside, but the slope was winning and the wheels were turning and he was clearly not having a good morning.

Sitting close beside both the man and the sidewalk was a little dog, which I presumed was his. The man kept getting the bungee cord stuck on the side of the cart and he simply could not get the bedroll to behave. It appeared that his temper was rising, and it looked like there was some hollering involved, probably at the maddening situation of rolling cart and recalcitrant bedroll. Then came drizzle from the gloomy sky.
But still sitting there watching was his little dog. No leash, no apparent urge to run off, because the man's temper seemed in no way directed at the dog. Dog loyalty. Nothing loves you like a dog.

Sometimes we all need something like that little dog in our corner. Someone or something who will sit by us when our tempers flare at things like rolling carts and stubborn bungee cords or our own life-versions of them. Someone who knows that deep down we really are good people but that when gravity duels with wheels- and wins- and then it seems like the sky piles on with drizzle and gloom, we might not actually be acting like our highest self. We all need that one who knows our calmer, nicer self is just around the corner, so they stick beside us, and never once wag their finger at us. They just sit there. Loyal to their friend. Patient with their friend.

I'm guessing the day had to get better for the man, and I fervently hope there was a nice treat for the little four legged friend who just sat there. Loyal. Patient. Well, just being a dog…