Animals and the Flu

          You are going home from work and you don't feel good. Not enough sleep you think at first, but as the evening wears on, you know you've had this feeling before. You go to bed and tell yourself that tomorrow everything will be fine, but deep down you are beginning to worry. "Why didn't I take that flu shot?" You say to yourself. Morning arrives as you get ready for work, but you know that isn't going to happen. You call the office and tell them to cancel the meetings, no reports today. You are not coming in. You lay on the sofa where your dog comes over and licks gives your hand a sympathy lick.
         "Not today, Spot. I feel miserable." You say to him as you raise a feeble hand and stroke his back. So as you sleep for hours on end, waking up only to take some more medicine and attempt to turn over the running spigot you used to call your nose, you see Spot is still there beside you with tongue out. He raises his head in anticipation of playing when he hears you move. A week has passed and the idea of getting out of bed and going back to work is now becoming a real possibility. Oh, the catching up you are going to be in for. You still aren't one-hundred percent, but no one at the office is going to care. They need you to pull your own weight. As you make your commute with a basket of tissues by your side you think about your dog Spot. He never gets the flu. In fact, you don't ever recall animals getting a cold or flu ever. Even the domestic ones who reside with us day and night who sit in our laps, lick our faces and watch us as we retreat to the sofa with a runny nose and a fever to boot. We feel miserable and Spot has been around the whole time. He just wags his tail, waiting for his master to get up and play. Why don't animals get the flu?  Aren't we animals too? Are they so different? They mate, eat, sleep, define territories, play, fight and do just about everything else we do except - get sick. Why? That is the question today. Tomorrow we'll talk about the answers and hopefully it will help us circumvent the flu or the common cold when it comes to visit our friends at the office.


Nameste'

Barry Brown, Author and National Speaker
"A Journey to Balance - Making Sense of It All"