Man's Best Friend

It is true what they say, a dog truly is a man's best friend. This just proves that a dog's probably have more loyalty than everyone combined in this world. I'm seeing a dog sitting next to his long dead owner. Well, I'm assuming it is the dog's owner because a dog wouldn't sit next to a random person's grave for no apparent reason, so it has to be someone special to the dog, most likely his owner. The dog isn't dumb nor ignorant, I am pretty sure that he knows his owner is dead but he just refuses to leave his side even if his owner is dead. This isn't the first time I have seen this happen, I've seen this happen plenty of times. A similar situation to this has happen before. I've saw a video that a dog was laying next to his owner's corpse and when the time came for the corpse to be taking away, the dog just wouldn't let go of his owner's clothes, he kept a tight grip on it with his teeth. Sadly, the corpse had to be taking away and the dog attempted to find a way to be next to his owner again but he couldn't, his owner was being taking away because he was dead. It was a heartbreaking video for me to watch since I am such a big fan of dogs. Dogs are extremely loyal and their owners are incredibly benign to them, they are the real deal, a true man's best friend.

It appears that this dog's name is Leao and he is sitting next to his owner's grave for the second day in a row. Leao's owner was killed in the disastrous landslides near the Rio de Janiero on January 15, 2011. Rio de Janiero is the capital city of the state of Rio de Janiero in Brazil. This city is said to be the second largest city in Brazil. In January 2011, the Rio de Janiero had a series of floods and mudslides that killed plenty of people. Sadly, Leao's owner fell victim to these natural disasters that always occur in our world. This natural disaster left Leao without a home and an owner. Poor Leao, I can't imagine the confusion and pain this poor dog must have felt at first. Since Leao has no home or owner, he has nowhere to go to. His extreme loyalty just leads him right next to his owner's grave. Most dogs probably will do this if they were in Leao's situation. Most dogs would probably do this mainly because they are the definition of loyalty. It is said that 903 people died in this natural disaster and a very similar disaster occurred in 1967 that killed 1,700 people. 1,700 people, that is a huge number of people. At that time I am sure that a dog of some sort must have lost his owner and probably just wandered right next to his owner's grave or maybe even corpse, dogs are just like that. Similar situations always occurs throughout the world and history, so I am sure that Leao's is not the only dog that has lost his home along with his owner. That is just how life is.

Now, plenty of things can happen to Leao right now in this picture. Someone else can probably adopt him and Leao would probably be happy and will go with his new owner, who knows. On the other hand, someone might want to adopt him but since Leao is a dog and dogs are very loyal, he might just choose to sit next to the grave of his true owner. Dogs are unpredictable at times. One good prediction is that someone will just help Leao and bring Leao some food and water while Leao just sits there next to his dead owner. This person might just sit out there with Leao too so Leao can feel comfortable. Eventually Leao will feel comfortable enough with this new person and he will probably go along with this new person as his new owner. This situation makes more sense to me because someone is bound to help this dog sooner or later. The dog will probably sit there for days and days remembering his owner and he would not care about himself a lot. Some dogs cannot take care of themselves very easily, that is why they need owners. Dogs are loyal creatures and have incredible memories so it will not be easy for the dog to leave his owner's side.

In the end, dogs truly are man's best friend through my eyes. This dog just proves that saying by laying down next to his dead owner for two days in a row, that is simply amazing. That is just another level of loyalty that most humans won't reach anytime soon. I have never heard of a person sitting down to one of their loved one's grave for two days in a row. Sure they may visit their loved ones grave every now and then but to simply just sit by someone's grave for two days straight is just astonishing. Leao probably is not even done staying by his owner's side, he is probably going to continue this for days for all we know. With Leao's level of loyalty, it is very possible that he might do that. I would not be able to do that, I do not know why. I do not think that it is in human nature to be that loyal, but hey, I can be wrong, everyone is different in this world. Many astonishing events occur in this world, anything is possible in this world. However, no one will ever replace a dog's role as man's best friend. Nevertheless, not all dogs are the same, but there is one thing every dogs shares personality wise, that is their ability to be extremely loyal. This pictures just proves everything on what I have said. A dog is the the only creature on earth that loves you more than they love themselves  Dogs are man's best friend and they are one of the most loyal creatures in this world. Leao is a fine example of one of them, I hope that he is still living well with a new owner.

Paris, The City of Love and Light

I didn't think I’d find it. Wasn't looking for it. But it was all around me. I returned home from my month in Paris, a soul-searching journey, not a pleasure trip, with many overwhelming impressions of the the City of Light. This vignette resonates to this day. I quickly established my presence each morning at a cafe a short stroll from my flat on Rive Gauche. The short journey alone was common with sights and sounds and smells that put me perfectly in the mood for cafe au lait (which is French for milk) and some quiet contemplation. The cafe was across a small, quiet intersection from an outdoor produce market. Behind the fruit-load display stood a small, dark haired French girl. She barely spoke English, and combined with my very limited French, we were unable to communicate beyond pointing and nodding and yes, smiling. I would observe her carefully from my perch outside the cafe. She would go long periods without a customer. She seemed bored and, I sensed, sadness and loneliness. Sometimes her gaze met mine. One morning, I stopped by a flower stall a half block up from her market and bought a dozen gorgeous orange roses. As I approached, her face lit up. I simply handed them to her, nodded, and continued on to the cafe. And that’s just what I did for the next two weeks. Each morning I wordlessly hand her a dozen roses (they were not at all overpriced like in the states), smiled, and went on my way. Her fellow employees caught on quickly, and from behind my newspaper, I enjoyed her curiosity as she tried to explain to them, while subtly gesturing toward me. The boredom of the produce stand was now cut with rumors and intrigue. Who was the American? Why was he keeping his distance? When I moved to another flat a few blocks away for the second half of my stay, I finally spoke to her, as I handed her a final dozen roses. I lifted my hand toward hers. She rested her hand in mine. I kissed it. “Je t’aime (I love you),” I said. “Au revoir(Goodbye).” And before she could say anything, I was gone.

Pointless Hurricane Sandy

Hurricane Sandy was one of the worst hurricanes that the Northeast coast of the U.S has gotten in a while. This hurricane was just a little taste of what the Caribbean islands get yearly. Also, it is really surprising that the Northeastern coast has gotten two hurricanes two years row. Hurricane Sandy has affected the Caribbean, the Mid Atlantic and the Northeastern United States. Sandy has caused intensive damages to all of these areas she has gone through.

When Hurricane Sandy happened, the power went out almost everywhere around me. Some people got their power a few days later after the storm, some people a week later, and some ten days later. Unfortunately it took ten days for my power to return. Those ten days were very insipid to me. Also, phone service was nearly impossible to get in my town and the towns around me so there was no way anyone could have contact anyone without going to their house. There was no school for two weeks and those two weeks were very dull to me. This hurricane just brought two weeks of nothingness to me.

I really didn't really learn much of the ten days without power. The only thing I learned was to live in the cold and sleep and in the cold. My mother is from the Dominican Republic and where she lives, the power always goes out every single day for a few hours, I'd say about five to nine hours daily. I always go to Dominican Republic every summer and I myself have gotten used to having no power and being in the darkness. Actually, the power outage here kind of reminded me of my country, the Dominican Republic.

In the end, I just spent these two weeks either listening to music (at first when my mp3 device had battery power), playing guitar, talking with my mom, or just doing nothing. This was just a pointless two weeks to me at least, i'm sure some other people learn how to do other things, but I didn't. Hurricane Sandy, why come here? I'm glad this is just all over with already.