My nightmare

Of this alone even a god is deprived – to make what is all done to have never happened. – Agathon, according to Aristotle

All of us have things in our lives that we wish hadn’t happened, memories we’d change if we could to right wrongs that should never have happened.  Those things haunt us in the odd moments when some chance encounter or oblique reference brings them to mind.

So often, we find ourselves wishing we could go back and make things right. A ‘do over’ is maybe the most frantic - and ultimately fruitless – wish we can wish for.

But what about ‘do aheads’? What about when we see the bad thing developing before it happens and know how to prevent the disaster and still can’t make things right? You’re the only one who can see both the people standing on the tracks and the approaching train and the track-standers just can’t quite make sense of your warning screams – what then?

We live in a dog-friendly neighborhood. At least every other house has a dog and frequently more than one. There are occasional problems. This one is an escape artiste, that one is indiscriminate in its distribution of scat. Ours are barkers and Barb’s Joy next door is a crotchety old gal who will nip at you if you annoy her.

Generally though, the problems are small and under control and we all love living in a place where our canine friends are cherished and tolerated.

Then, Eric rented the house next door. His dog Hawking is a pit bull with a massive head and a sweet personality. Sweet, that is, until he snaps. Which he has done several times and of late, with increasing frequency.

When I found out that Hawking had attacked at least three other animals, killing one and putting another in the vet hospital, I checked around with the other neighbors. It seems like none of them were aware that this dog was spooling up in both the frequency and viciousness of his attacks.

So, I filed a complaint with County Animal Services, hoping that putting the attacks plus incidents of aggressiveness I’d witnessed myself all in one report would bring things together for the authorities and action would be taken.

Yesterday, I got a call from a VERY frustrated field investigator for the County. It seems that at least two of the people whose animals were attacked by ole Hawking had declined to file reports. It seems Eric gets to them quickly and uses his own brand of crocodile tears to convince them that theirs is an isolated incident. And in one case, he apparently agreed to pay a substantial vet bill in order to shut things up.

Bottom line: Animal Services can’t make a move until another attack takes place. Could be another injured dog or another dead cat…or even one of the elementary school kids who catch their bus next door to Eric and Hawking.

Elie Wiesel reminds us that while it’s awful to be a perpetrator and tragic to be a victim, evil flourishes due to the inaction of bystanders.

I’ve no idea how to end this missive. Just as I’ve no idea how the problem of Hawking will finally resolve.

Resolve, it will. How? That’s my nightmare.