"UBUNTU" IN THE DOGGIE-BLOGGIE LAND

GREETINGS FROM SOUTH AFRICA!!!

TOFFEE DOG here...

Hello there to all our fur-buddies across the world...

Mom said that since Max is ailing she is giving me a chance to do the bloggie-post for today. This is a particularly tough job! I am generally a high spirited little doggie and Mom has asked me to talk about something more serious today. But I’ll do it! Yes I will! TAMMY and I plan to keep this blog going no matter what!!!

FIRSTLY, here is a MAX UPDATE:

Quite frankly nothing much has changed in the past 24 hours!

My brother – MAXDOG – in his strong, spirited style takes his naps when and where he likes…

… and becomes his old sprightly self when he wants to be.


He even played a bit with TAMMY yesterday. I know he’s sick, but he’s comfortable and happy! I do think, however, that he is getting far too much chicken and rice in his bowl! Why Mom doesn’t put more in ours, I don’t know? TAMMY and I are considering telling Mom that we are sick too…maybe she’ll then fill our bowls with chicken and rice too?!?

In summary, however…MAX IS DOING WELL!

OKAY…TODAY’S POST…

This post is a bit philosophical, but I am sure that you will get the greater meaning of what we are saying today…

(Mom says that we must please all put on our philosophical hats!)

As you know, our blog tries to give our readers a taste of our beautiful country…

SOUTH AFRICA!

MAXDOG has been your TOUR GUIDE for some time now and if TAMMY and I are to eventually take over this blog, then we must try to do the same!

Did you know that the 11th February 1990 was the day that our ‘Madiba’

(NELSON MANDELA)

was released from prison?

Today is the 20th ANNIVERSARY of his release!

It was the day our SOUTH AFRICAN nation’s COLLECTIVE SPIRIT soared and started the process of our country becoming a full democracy.

Why am I telling you this?

Well, Mom says that the kind of “COLLECTIVE SPIRIT”, displayed on that day, 20 years ago, is very similar to what we are experiencing in bloggie-land at this very moment. People who hardly know each other are bonded in unity in our collective thoughts!

It’s quite ironic (and Mom likes irony!) because in SOUTH AFRICA there is a concept which many people embrace.

It is a concept called “UBUNTU” and it quite simply means….
“A person is only a person through other persons”

Well here’s the irony….

We think there is “UBUNTU” in bloggie-land!
Here is some of the proof...

Archbishop Desmond Tutu (Our Bishop in the Anglican church) offered a longer definition of ‘UBUNTU” in 1999. He says:

“A person with Ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, for he or she has a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed”.

(Those of you who have seen the movie, "INVICTUS" will already have an idea of this collective spirit in our country)


Whew, that’s quite heavy for a little dog like me!

But I can see that maybe us doggies have more “UBUNTU” than we know. Firstly, it is said that when we go to the Rainbow Bridge that we look out for those doggies and humans that we leave behind. Also, the messages of goodwill across the Doggie-Bloggie sphere seem to display this COLLECTIVE SPIRIT so beautifully. We are eternally grateful to be part of this amazing community.

Mom says that I must say THANK YOU again for all the UBUNTU displayed in blog-land…it is a beautiful thing to be part of!

So today, as SOUTH AFRICA celebrates the

20th ANNIVERSAY OF THE RELEASE OF NELSON MANDELA,

let us continue celebrating our DOGGIE-BLOGGIE SPIRIT OF ‘UBUNTU’.

What say you???

Mom says that I should also tell you about a wonderful email and suggestion which she recently received. "Fran" in New Zealand has said that we can share her email with you:...

"One thing that really helped me (and you may like to consider doing) is that I got a nice journal and put my favourite picture of my boy on the cover. Inside I handwrote (not typed, as I tend to change, reorder and revise things when I type) all the little “I remember when…”, your favourite treat was...”, “your favourite place to be patted was”, and about the funny things he did, the noises he made, holidays we had shared, his little rituals, etc and also how I felt about him, and how I was feeling at the time.

In the weeks and months (and even years) after loosing him he was so often in my thoughts (I’m convinced he’s left gold fur in my heart as it was everywhere else in the house!) and this was my way of processing what was in my head. My memories arrived in random order and my words were often written through many tears. They were the very little things that my numerous photos had missed. I didn’t (and still don’t) have a blog, but these little memoires are my private record of the things I don’t want to forget about him as I grow old. Even now I still add to this book, and it has become something (like photos) that I’d want to save in a fire. Initially I couldn’t’ read what I had without tears as I missed him so much, but almost four years on I can now read it with a smile on my face as my messy handwritten comments remind me I am so thankful for the time we shared – maybe it was not a long time but it really was a good time."

Well, Mom thinks this is fabulous advice, (Thank you, Fran!) so here are Mom's efforts to start:
"MAX's BOOK"...

Thank you, Fran, for your suggestion!

You write beautifully...how about starting a bloggie for your Riley?

I'm finishing off this post with a picture of another "Mom & Me" picture...

This is literally the Mother 'Hoepoe" and her chick who have taken up residence in Max's garden...

Thats all for today!
Lot's of licks and "Ubuntu" to you all

TOFFEE AND TAMMY IN SOUTH AFRICA