The Lesson in Dog Poo

Last Thursday I was leaving my house around 7:20 to head to work and had some trash to take out before I left. Due to all the snow and ice we've gotten, and the fact my apartment gets very little sunlight, there was plenty of icy slush in the front of my house. Luckily (and I mean LUCKILY) I looked down as I began to walk the short distance or else I would have stepped on one of the two (or both) piles of animal poo laying there. 

I was like WHAT the WHAT? (As my friend John would say. I hear his voice in my head.) 

So, of course, I can't very well clean it up right then because I have work. So basically my day started with the knowledge that when I got home after a long day at school I would have two big piles of poo to clean up. Fantastic. (Also, because I'm me, I was in a slight panic all day that the mailman or whomever would see it and think I was gross and don't clean up after my animal.) 

Needless to say, I got home, it was still there, and I had to clean it up. I got some store bags from my house and went outside to pick it up. And as I did so, I thought that there must be some sort of Lenten message in this act. I bounced some thoughts around but never quite arrived at one. 

Fast forward to yesterday. When it happened. Again. Just one big pile this time, not two, so maybe that's something to be thankful for? At any rate, dog poo, cat poo, I don't know, but it's poo. And it's not mine. I have a pet. His name is Baby Snickers and he does NOT poo like that because he knows how to use a litter box like a civilized pet thankyouverymuch. 

So I began thinking again about the message in this. Something about maybe service for others, or maybe clean up the mess in your yard before you comment on someone else's (a different way of stating this verse, or, as Kid President would say, "Before you talk about the barbecue sauce on someone else's shirt, take a look at the barbecue sauce on your own shirt.") Both valid thoughts. 

But on the way to school this morning, it hit me. The lesson. And here it is -- sometimes life is crap. 

You heard me.

Sometimes life is crap. Sometimes life gives you crap. Sometimes life gives you a lot of crap and you have to clean it up. And it sucks. And that is really all you can say. 

But it's important that we remember not to let the crap overtake all the good things about our lives. And it's really important that you do everything you can to clean up the crap. Because if you don't, it just keeps piling up, making it harder to see all the good. And if you're lucky, you have some people willing to help you clean it up. 

And there you have it. What I learned from dog poo.