Faithfulness

One of my friends told me this real story. His father was posted in a small forest town at that time. One day, while he was passing through a stretch adjacent to the forest, 5-6 wild dangerous looking dogs surrounded him. There was no one else around. Suddenly, a small local dog arrived nearby and invited attention of the dangerous dogs. Then he started running away in a particular direction. My friend's father too ran behind that dog. The wild dogs, because of some strange reason, didn't chase him! He was safe. He then took that dog to his home and domesticated him. After a long association, one day, there was something wrong with the dog, may be he had eaten something wrong. He was eagerly waiting in the house, for his master to return from office. As soon as my friend's father came, the dog ran towards him, lovingly hugged him, played with him, and then moved away. He went to the bathroom, vomited blood, and after some time, he was dead.

I know many of us have stories like this. I remember the story of Sona, the female deer of poetess Subhadra Kumari Chowhan, which she described in her story. Also, I remember one story I read on some of your blogs, where the authoress described how she found and lost her faithful pet.

On the other hand, we as humans are faithful often not even to us; right? There are scientists who try to justifiably explain why men by nature are not faithful to their partners. And there are people who justify unfaithfulness to one's organisation by saying: everything is right until you get caught up. There have been numerous stories of rags-to-riches individuals, who were unfaithful to their masters. Faithfulness to one's country, motherland, family, parents, spouse, friends… ideally the wish list is long. I think the human tendency to justify things pulls us too low… In the changing times, will the pets be the only ones who will retain this basic quality?