ROSEMARY’S TROPHY CUP

Pigeon Hunt,Chicago, IL
Trophy Cup, Chicago, IL

Today, June 6, commemorates the seventieth anniversary of the allied forces’ largest assault of WWII at Normandy, France to begin their liberation of Europe. And it marked the critical turning point of the world’s largest war in history. The end of the war marked the culmination of a worldwide struggle for power and domination. The human sacrifice both overseas on the front and in the homelands was unprecedented. Humankind sadly is still at war with one another for possession of all manner of earthly trophies such as land and resources. The poppy fields of WWI and the acres of white crosses in WWII military cemeteries are somber testimonies of sacrifice and human suffering.

It’s too bad that the human race can’t learn more from observing the traits of the other creatures that we share the planet with every day of our lives. My grand dog Rosemary’s ancestors were bred to guard and hunt. It’s in her surviving DNA. This morning’s early walk was a prime example of her instincts at work. In the course of a twenty-minute urban walk she flushed out two rabbits, a cat, two pigeons, a robin and innumerable sparrows.

But in spite of her hair-trigger response to these fellow creatures with whom she shares the planet, she's been conditioned not to pursue, capture or harm them. Still, there seems to be this haunting urge to bring home a trophy from the hunt. So as we come to the end of our ritualistic mission on the urban sidewalks, she seeks out a worthy tree branch. The branch seems to be symbolic of a successful crusade as she triumphantly passes through the halls of long departed schnauzers cheering her home. She proudly waits at the crest of the stairway and only then presents the trophy for induction into the trophy cup elevated on a nearby windowsill. If only we humans would choose to pursue an olive branch without the costly expense of violence, because the only treasure storehouse of any consequence lies beyond this planet by way of much better behavior which has already been modeled for us.