The noblest of beasts: "The highest doesn't stand without the lowest"

"The highest doesn't stand without the lowest" --George Santayana

This puppy may not be a member of this overrated human species, he may not be homo sapiens erectus, he may not be a descendant of Adam and Eve (actually, most likely pithecanthropus erectus or thereabouts--male and female), he may not be one to stand with the angels (what "angels"?), he may not even have a "soul" (what "soul"?). He may be a mammal of the canine species, long descendants of the wolf family. He may be an "animal," a "domesticated animal", a "pet," a "beast." But if so, he is the noblest of beasts, the noblest of creatures, the noblest of animals.

Oh, I'm sure a squirrel--(for lack of a badger) his obscure object of desire, his favourite thing to chase--wouldn't stand much of a chance before him. Nobility might be the last thing on this puppy's mind when it comes to squirrels (a good meal to satisfy carnivorous cravings sounds more like it!). Still, as he barks from the ground at them up there on a tree branch in frustration, he wags his little tail at them and emits little pleading moans amidst the barking as if saying, "Please come back down so that I can have you for a quick snack! Be a buddy and come down! Be my meal!". Somehow this barking and its accompanying tail-wagging sounds different from his barking at other dogs and his protective barking at strangers.

As he takes off running after a squirrel he's just seen and he is about to trample underfoot someone's perfectly manicured flower bed around the tree the squirrel is fleeing towards on a life-saving upward run, I hold the leash tight and the sudden stop almost makes Puppy flip backwards and land on his side. I feel terrible guilt about having done that to him to keep him from destroying someone's "precious property" (what does a puppy know or care about such things?). But he's alright and he's so excited about seeing and chasing the squirrel that all the flips in the world wouldn't have even bothered or detered him. He makes no connection at all between that sudden stop and holder of that string responsible for it--me, horrible me, protector of neighbors' flower beds from trampling by puppies. If he notices it at all, it is as a minor inconvenience on his way to Puppy Heaven ("aaahhh, squirrel for dinner!").

I can't find a trace of "resentment" in this puppy, not an ounce of malice, not a grain of viciousness. I think most so-called humans would fail miserably on a moral comparisson chart with this puppy. Humans are capable of the most horrible emotions from malicious envy to vicious hatred and everything in between. This puppy is pure sweetness. Perhaps not to squirrels or to some other dogs or to strangers, but certainly to me--and that's all that matters, isn't it?