No doubt about it – there are some hilarious animal videos posted on Facebook. The posts run from owners who “shame” their canine family members by hanging “mea culpa” signs around the necks of guilty looking dogs to cats who rule over dogs by stealing their food, toys, and beds.

As funny as these are (and we can all use a daily dose of laughter) my favorite animal video was not in the least amusing. I have tried to find the video to include a link in this post, but no such luck. I’m going to tell you as best I remember it.

The video was basically silent and was of an abandoned dog on his first day of being rescued. The dog just sat there dispassionately and avoiding eye contact while he was patted and petted gently by the rescue person. Looking as though he thought he shouldn’t move a muscle, he also acted as though he didn’t care one bit about someone showing him compassion.

On and on the soft touches continued without any response from the dog.

Then the rescuer stopped petting him, but kept her hand cupped just above the dog’s head. After a few seconds and almost imperceptibly, the dog raised his head barely enough to reach her hand. After another pat, he lay down.  “Day One of Being Rescued” ended.

That led me to think about people we may have made incorrect assumptions about. You know—people we may have tried to befriend but they acted as though we weren’t there. Or people who have dropped out of a group or organization and didn’t seem to care about us or the group anymore. Maybe we gave up on them too soon. And maybe “just one more pat on the head” might be all someone needs to open up to us.

Because let’s face it…there have been days that we have each felt like that dog, just waiting for someone to notice that we were there and needed someone who cared.

To my readers:   Will you share a story about almost giving up on someone?