Editorial November 27, 1995 ISSUE

Dominion—and our responsibility

Barbara M. Vining

It's encouraging to know that maintaining control over one's own thoughts and actions can serve to protect one from harm. It's even more encouraging to do it, and to be protected thereby. I recall having such an experience as a very young child.

Pet dogs of various shapes, sizes, and temperaments were common in the neighborhood where I grew up. Most were friendly, but occasionally some were not. Because of this, and especially because there was no law requiring owners to leash their dogs, my parents taught me how to discipline myself in a way that would discourage dogs from harming me. For one thing, they taught me that if a dog should run toward me barking or growling as I walked by its house on my way to school, I should stay completely calm and unafraid, and continue to walk along the sidewalk normally as if nothing unusual were happening. They explained that this would assure the dog that I had no intention of harming him, or of trespassing on the property he was guarding, and he would leave me alone.

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