The Dog Food on the Porch

I've wanted to write about this story for some time now since it taught me such a valuable lesson: Don't judge too quickly!

In 2005, our little city of Eagle Mountain was experiencing some political "growing pains". Several factions of the community were vehemently at odds with each other, financial troubles abounded, and we couldn't keep a mayor to serve all four years of his/her term. Mayor Kelvin Bailey and some city council members had suggested that we look at making the mayor's position a paid, full-time position. Although the proposal failed at first, this issue became the defining issue for the 2005 City Council/Mayoral elections.

At a July City Council meeting that year, I stood up at public comment and expressed my opinion that the full-time mayor option was exactly what our city needed at that time. (I will try to find my typed up comments from that day and post it on this site.) Honestly, I felt extremely nervous since I knew my comments would plant me firmly on one "side" politically in opposition to many of my friends and ward members in my neighborhood. Still, I felt strongly about this issue and knew that I had a unique perspective to share. I knew that what I was doing could invite some opposition, but I also felt a duty to my family (who also came to watch and support me) to show them how important it is to stand up for things we believe in.

After my comments, our family left the meeting and drove to the store to pick up some groceries. Imagine our surprise when we got home - a Ziploc bag of dog food was sitting on our porch! No name, no note, just a bag of dog food sitting there.

This little bag sparked quite a conversation that night. I shared with my children and husband how one city council member had recently told me that he started wearing a bullet proof vest to city council meetings at the suggestion of the county sheriff, due to some death threats he had been receiving lately. Our mayor had left city council meeting one night to find his tires slashed. A few websites and local "newspapers" had encouraged and published inflammatory, derogatory, and misleading articles about city politics and its leaders.

We discussed the need to be civil and respectful to our leaders even if, or especially if, we disagree with what they're doing or saying. We discussed the fact that different people can see or perceive the same exact object in different ways based on their own perspective, much like the glass of water that is half full/half empty or the classic Covey "old woman/young woman" picture. I shared with my children my belief that much of the contention in our city came from the fact that people were only willing to see their side of the picture and unwilling to accept a different viewpoint. When we went to bed that night, I felt grateful for this learning and teaching opportunity, but I also felt some trepidation for the upcoming wave of opposition I might face for taking a stand on this issue.

The next morning I woke up and found we had some messages on our voicemail I hadn't thought to check the night before. I will never forget the message from our next door neighbor, Troy Rasmussen: His wife Tambra had gone into early labor that night with their first child, and since we had a key to their home, he was hoping that we could feed their dogs and collect their mail for the next couple of days. So that was the answer to the dog food!

Can you imagine what our breakfast conversation was like that morning? How easy it is to jump to conclusions, to assume the worst, to think it's all a conspiracy - when the real truth is that it's just a bag of dog food, left there for the purpose, of all things, to feed some dogs!

I know that sometimes negative things do happen because of conniving, manipulating, mean-spirited people who want to connive, manipulate, and be mean-spirited. But I believe that we can work ourselves into a negative frenzy - with resulting negative reactions - when we see everything as a conspiracy and refuse to see a different perspective, one that may be closer to the truth.

So, in my family, we have a way of checking ourselves from getting too carried away in assuming the worst: We ask ourselves, "Is this just the dog food on the porch?"