State Library of New South Wales collection, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons
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By Bill Stokes
Kickass, the doorstop dog, is trying to communicate to the keeper just how to deal with giving and receiving in this season when the claim is promoted that “giving” produces greater satisfaction than “receiving.”
That is hogwash, of course.
Take if from a dog: It is okay to “give” a slobbered-on tennis ball back to someone who throws it across the lawn and then asks you to fetch it, but what really turns a dog on is “receiving” a meaty-tasting treat for simply sitting and staying.
There is an example in the keeper’s case when he and Phyllis recently opened a gift package from son Larry and daughter-in-law Linda, and as the keeper immediately sampled the chocolate and the nuts, he was consumed by the sheer joy of “receiving,” while giving no thought whatsoever as to what he might have “given,” to Larry and Linda, probably nothing more than best wishes.
Kickass lifts a nursery rhyme line—”Give a dog a bone” to further make his seasonal point that nothing compares with the joy of “receiving,” and that includes “giving.”
