Tail From Rainbow Bridge: The Dog With an Evil Parent

A dog’s sworn duty is to take care of their parents:  To be their loyal companion no matter what they do.  But what is a dog to do when that parent is evil?

This week when Maya arrived at the Bridge many German Shepherd angels arrived to welcome their sister.  As they were departing I saw a German Shepherd who was well known on both sides of the Bridge.  

I slowly approached her.  “Excuse me Blondi?” I said in a tiny voice.

The large German Shepherd stopped and look down at me.  She smiled and asked what she could do for me.

“I know we dogs are supposed to be devoted to our parents but did you find that hard to do when your Dad was the most evil man in the world?”

Blondi sighed.  “It is hard,’ she said.  “He was good to me, up until the time he fed me a cyanide tablet to make sure it worked before he took it himself.  But I took it.  He was my Dad.  We all do what our Dad wants us to do.”

“But your Dad was an evil man.  He started a World War.  He murdered millions of people.  Didn’t you ever consider the world would be a better place if you just ripped out his jugular?”

“Oh I did,” Blondi said.  “I knew what he was doing.  When he was planning something inexplicably evil I would bark at him like I was trying to warn him of an impending seizure but it did no good.  Nothing could change him.  He was evil to the core.  I did spend a lot of time growling at the bad people around him.  I even snapped at a few of them.  They weren’t my Dad.  I could do what I wanted to them.  But instead of understanding that they were evil my Dad just thought I was protecting him.”

She sat down on the green grass.  “You know the hardest thing was knowing that I was living with the most evil man in Europe and I had it better than any dog in Europe, maybe in the world, accept for maybe Fala, who I have always found a little uppity.  So many dogs lost their homes, lost their parents, were left to wander the streets, and there I was, with the man who caused it all.

“When I was given that pill and crossed the Bridge the line to get here, both with dogs and humans, was endless.  It took me days to get here and me sworn in.  Then I went and hid.  I didn’t belong here.  So many dogs and humans were here because of my Dad.  Who would accept me?  But then some angels came to me.  I told them my story and why I didn’t belong.  They took me by the paw and told me that this is where I belonged.  And no one ever mentioned my Dad again.  Until today.”

I looked down sheepishly and Blondi patted my head.  “It’s OK,” she said  “It is good to talk about it.  I went down to the River to look for my Dad.  All I saw was darkness.  First I thought I was being punished but then I realized he was in a place where there was no light and he could never hurt anyone again.  And all those men who advised him were in the darkness too.  I would never see him again.  He was no longer my Dad.  And I was glad.”

I reached up and patted her nose.  What hell it must have been to be the dog of an evil man.  I think every dog and angel should thank The Big Guy for the wonderful parents we have so we don’t iive our lives in torment.  

I don’t know what I would have done if my Dad had been evil like Blondi’s was.  I am just glad I have never been put in that position.  

Bless all the good parents tonight, and the dogs who lack them.