17/08/2025
Today's Topic: Let's Make Courtesy Common Again. Please be kind and courteous to all on this page. Sadly courtesy and class are no longer common these days. Entitlement and hatred have become the norm. I truly believe all people should season their words with grace. And I will block any who disrupt the peace and joy I have created on this page without hesitation. I will not entertain hatred hidden under the guise of honesty. As the article brings out: " in social media, context quickly disappears...
It’s easy to judge from the outside. Easy to point fingers at what we think we see, without trying to understand. " 🥰 Thank you to all who have shown my page love & support 💗 I truly appreciate sincere friendships 💓 We do what we do for the love of Poms 🐾
Only people who truly love their dogs will understand what this photo really shows…
This photo quickly spread across social media: a man walking on a sidewalk, his dog in his arms, and by his side, his young son walking on foot.
The image was interpreted at lightning speed. Comments poured in: “What kind of father carries his dog but not his child?”; “He loves his pet more than his own son.” The condemnation was instant, as so often in our age of quick and final judgments.
Many saw it as proof of emotional imbalance, of unfair preference. They didn’t try to see what lay behind that frozen scene. They took the photo as absolute truth, without imagining that it only showed a fragment of the story. A single moment, stripped of its context, unable to tell the whole reality on its own.
Yet others noticed what many had missed.
That day, the heat was overwhelming. The asphalt, baked since morning, was scorching, dangerous for small bare paws. Anyone who has walked barefoot on burning ground knows how immediate and unbearable the pain is. For a dog, paw pads are sensitive, fragile. Just a few minutes on an overheated surface can cause serious burns.
The man, however, had seen it. He knew his son was wearing shoes, protected by their soles. He also knew that his dog had nothing. And if he let him walk, he risked injuring him, perhaps permanently. So he carried him, not out of preference, but out of necessity. Out of pure instinct to protect.
What the photo didn’t show was that he also placed his hand, from time to time, on his son’s shoulder. That he slowed his pace to match his rhythm. That he talked to him, that they laughed together. The bond between them had nothing to do with a hierarchy of love. That gesture wasn’t a choice between his child and his dog. It was a thoughtful act, a balance found in the moment.
But on social media, context quickly disappears. We forget that love can take different forms depending on the situation. That to love is not to treat everyone the same in all circumstances, but to meet each one’s needs as they arise. That day, the child didn’t need to be carried. The dog, on the other hand, absolutely did.
It’s easy to judge from the outside. Easy to point fingers at what we think we see, without trying to understand. But the intelligence of the heart does not feed on appearances, it feeds on attention, on nuance, on the rare ability to perceive what is unspoken.
And what if this image, instead of being the symbol of misplaced love, was in fact the symbol of well-distributed love? A love able to adapt, to protect, to do what is right for each, at the right moment.
Sometimes, protecting one is also an act of loving the other.
