Kyle Banerjee's Blog

When I took Keiko to the vet last Saturday, I learned among other things that she is almost totally blind. We’ve known she had vision issues for some time. She used to be able to do all these crazy off balance catches while running. She’d never miss if you threw food at her. Now she never notices anything flying through the air unless it hits her or she hears it fall.

Keiko’s pushing 10, and problems like this are common for dogs her age. However, she’s always been exceptionally fit, so watching her turn into an old dog practically overnight has been more difficult than I expected. Two years ago, she loved to play fetch for hours on end and could literally run circles around dogs half her age. Three years ago, she sent an intruder leaping over the fence minus a size 14 shoe. Now, the dog that waited anxiously for me to wake me up at a quarter to four so I could take her for a 2 mile walk every morning must be coaxed out of bed and wants to quit playing fetch after one or two throws.

The vet told me what I have been expecting for many years, but talking to him reminded me of how few opportunities we have to do things. Keiko’s favorite activity in the whole world — playing fetch at the beach — will never be the same, and the number of times she will even see the beach again is very limited. In reality, there never were going to be that many opportunities to go in first place. In plain English, this means that it’s a good idea to make the most of things when you get the chance.

In many ways, dogs are better at dealing with life than most people. Dogs are very good at working with what they have rather than worrying about what was or could have been. They enjoy the moment and don’t feel a need for extra sympathy as they decline (even if they like the attention). Even though Keiko can see next to nothing and is suffering from the usual ailments that accompany old age, she seems perfectly happy.

We’re going to see what can be done for Keiko. I’ve been told that it’s unlikely that we’ll be able to do anything, but it still doesn’t hurt to at least get a second opinion to verify the diagnosis.

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The night before last, Shirley and I returned from a 3 week trip to England and Scotland. Both of us had been looking forward to the trip for a long time, but for different reasons. I studied at Leeds 18 years ago and wanted to see how things had changed. Shirley had never been before and just wanted to see what it was like.

England and Scotland are English speaking countries, but they are very different from the US. One thing that immediately jumps out at you is that you get a real sense of history just about anywhere you go. Although it is true that most parts of the United States have been inhabited for thousands of years, practically all traces of the original inhabitants and their lives were wiped out long ago. Besides, today’s dominant culture has little in common with that of the people who were here more than 500 years ago.

In contrast, the culture of today in the United Kingdom descended directly from that of the people that have been there for thousands of years. It’s not hard to take a picture of a skyscraper next to a thousand year old building. For example, this picture is of the Tower of London (a thousand year old fortress) and the “Gherkin,” (a building primarly occupied by an insurance company). Even Windsor Castle — one of the Queen’s official residences — has been occupied continuously for about 1000 years.

Rather than write a post that goes on forever, I’ll add information about this trip and time I’ve spent in other European countries to my travel pages as soon as I find the time. If you want to see pictures of the trip in the meantime, just click on the “Photos” tab above and type in the searches “England 2006″ and “Scotland 2006″ and you’ll see every picture that was taken.

I wanted to make one quick observation before ending this post. As you would expect in a country that has produced many monarchs as well as people who have made great contributions to the arts and the sciences, the United Kingdom is full of monuments, statues, etc honoring various people.

History judges us by our deeds rather than inherited or purchased status. One of the most popular monuments I saw on the entire trip was a statue of a dog named Bobby. Bobby’s claim to fame is that after his owner died, he stayed by the gravesite for 14 years until he also passed away. I passed by his monument many times, and it is clear that Bobby’s loyalty and devotion really touches a lot of people. There was always a line of people waiting to take pictures of him. There were always fresh flowers on his grave even though he died over 100 years ago. The inscription on his grave is one of the more impressive that I have seen — “May we all learn from his example” — an epitaph that few of us can hope to be worthy of.

Bobby may only have been a dog, but he clearly inspires more people than most kings, queens, or nobility. I’ll square with you — I’m not a big fan of the monarchy or hereditary aristocracy. Although there are many good individuals in those groups, my impression is that most of them spent their lives throwing money around to show how important they were. Fortunately, people know the real article when they see it.

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