The Diff Wagon

I guess a good book arouses all of the emotions and in some sense all of the senses. "The Art of Racing in the Rain" by Garth Stein, does all of that and from a the view of man's best friend, a dog named Enzo.

Obviously, the real point of view is the author, but it seems as though his perception within the dog's mind is dead on! Stein really stepped into those paws and experienced the lives his surroundings with what seemed like a heightened sense of awareness, about everything. Because he is in on everything yet is not able to say anything, all his observations spill out onto the pages of this book. The dog is never truly alone yet always alone with his thoughts, and those thoughts were truly profound.

I can't count the times I kept thinking "Oh wow, how true that is!" or "OMG, YES!" Everything this dog said was never about the actual thing however specific, it was about the much larger picture...of life.

Here are some of my favorite YES! moments from the book:

"We had smelled it, and it smelled like roast pig. Everybody likes the smell of roast pig. But what is worse, smelling the roast and not feasting, or not smelling the roast at all?"

"Know who is driving next to you. Any problems that may occur, have ultimately been caused by you, because you are responsible for where you are and what you are doing there."

"People are loath to sit in a parked car for long. They are afraid someone might judge them for it, I think. The only people who sit in parked cars are police and stalkers, and sometimes taxi drivers on a break...Whereas me, I can sit in a parked car for hours and nobody thinks to ask. Odd."

"I was humiliated when he said 'Where is your dog?' I didn't want to admit that I slept with a stuffed animal. But I did. I loved that dog...I hid it during the day because...when people saw it they wanted to play tug and I didn't like tugging with my dog."

"Who can rejoice in his wins? The sun rises every day. What is to love? Lock the sun in a box. Force the sun to overcome adversity in order to rise. Then we will cheer! I will often admire a beautiful sunrise, but I will never consider the sun a champion for having risen."

"The ride. It's all about the ride!"

"People are always worried about what's happening next. They often find it difficult to stand still, to occupy the now without worrying about the future. People are not generally satisfied with what they have; they are concerned with what they are going to have."

"Yes, the race is long - to finish first, first you must finish."

Nothing quite like a dog to say such profound things! :) But I bet you all the good dogs out there are just as smart as the one in this book.

Like the dog said, he only had his gestures and each gesture made with meaning. Sometimes when one of your senses is lost, you make up for it in other ways. Maybe we take advantage of having all six. I know talking isn't one of the six senses, but it almost seems like one. Maybe if we couldn't talk we would see the world differently too. Never butting in to proclaim our opinions, but watching and observing and allowing our gestures to do the talking. But then again, those that are always butting in will end up finding their way around making themselves known even if they didn't have a tongue for speaking.

All I'm saying is, the book had amazing insight! Go read :)