I pondered Bernie Woods’ April 4 letter to the editor with some consternation, and not a little amusement, particularly the passages exhorting Mr. Hardikar to “act American” and his criticisms of Mr. Hardikar’s dog-walking activities.
Heeding Mr. Woods’ admonishments, I endeavored to scrutinize my own sordid past, to see if there were any blemishes. And sure enough, there was a black mark. I too, once allowed a dog to run at large. It happened many years ago, when I was still a youth living at home with my parents in Rindge. The family pet was a large English mastiff we had named “Lance,” although my Dad was fond of calling him “Lance-a-Lot,” owing to his tremendous size. On the day in question, the dog, perhaps smelling something enticing, or beckoned by a squirrel, hopped the stone wall, only to reappear moments later with the customary drool upon his lips. Fortunately for me, any such statutes regarding this incident have likely expired.
But Bernie’s comments have let me know that I’ve been a little less American since that day, and there’s no doubt I’ve committed a myriad of similar offenses in the years since. After further scrutiny of my conduct, I confess that I’ve spent little, if any, time or energy trying to act American! No, like most of my friends and neighbors, I’ve mostly just been being myself. I guess all I can do is just hope I haven’t been acting like anyone else from another country, and more importantly, they haven’t been acting like me!
How lucky we are to have someone like Mr. Woods, who is obviously vested by a higher authority, to point us in the right direction, and show us the way. Otherwise we would be walking around in a deluded fog of ignorance, and acting like everyone else.
Damon Poor lives in Jaffrey.