Me and my Arrow

[Bullfrog]

I want you to listen to the words and watch the story play out. See if you can learn the point. That being different is not bad. I am going somewhere with this.

Once I hear this song again it just stays with me. This is Harry Neilson, some of you will remember it. Others of you will relate to it. Oblio was born different. He had a round head when everyone else had a pointed head.

It is just a metaphor really. It could mean that you were born dark, overweight, Irish, crosseyed or any thing else that made you different and not accepted. Listen to the story.

His only real friend was his dog... Arrow. Tell me if you can relate to this. As simple as the cartoon is, it still brings a tear to my eye because I can relate to Oblio, can anyone else?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjhTBZaVYfA

[Esther]

Sure I can, have always known I was a little different but not enough to dwell on. The idea is nice but doesn't really fit this world very well. In the end, I guess what matters most is how we see ourselves because if we depend on others to be the ones who make the frame we fit in, it'll never work. Each person makes frames differently. What I expect of you is bound to be different than the guy next to me.

[Bullfrog]

I wanted to wait and see how many people actually watched the video and made the connection. We have all been Oblio at one time or another. Maybe we were the new kid in class when our family moved and we changed schools.

But have you ever been Arrow? Arrow in this movie was a simple dog, but Arrow's acceptance and love of Oblio even though he was different was an integral part of this story.

Maybe you could watch it again and see how Arrow's presence really mean't a lot. How being a friend to the oddball somehow weighed more in the love department. In the big picture.

I have posted this twice in a forum that has thousands of hits a day and laid down clues and nobody else ever made the connection.

Arrow was a dog but he gave his love unconditionally to someone who was really different and shunned by the majority.

I think that it is better actually to be Arrow than it is to be the one who "learned the lesson". Arrow was the one who gave him the strength to go on and realize that he was Ok even though the others shunned him.

This is leading to another long story from Bullfrog, but one with a meaning. That sometime it is better and means more to God to befriend the oddball than it does to be the oddball and learn the truth.

Once, I was Arrow, to a cat. Imagine that. Does anyone really want to hear this nonsence? One vote and I'm in. Those who don't want to hear my ramblings can ignore it, but even a cat can be Oblio and a human can be Arrow.

Who says that people mean more to God than dogs or cats? Who sins less?

In this case I am happy to still be Arrow.

Me and my Arrow.

[Esther]

I once heard a young man telling how he was shunned in school because he was from a poor family and pretty much a studious geeky type. At some point one of the more popular kids started to talk to him and eventually they became great friends. When they graduated, the geek who ended up the valedictorian of the class had to make a speech. He told about how that other young man had literally saved his life because he was contemplating killing himself and the friendship gave him a different focus.

[Mikey]

I can't really relate to Oblio because I blend in with my surroundings.  I recently let the beard on my chin grow so that I now braid it.  Since doing this I have noticed a definite change in the way I am looked at and the way I am accepted by strangers.  My friends just look at it and laugh....

People tend to naturally gravitate toward people of like similarities, be they physical or cultural.  I see that everywhere.  Black neighborhoods, Hispanic neighborhoods, Jewish neighborhoods, Korean neighborhoods.  And yes, there are also mixed neighborhoods as well.  I also see that kids walking to school generally hang around with kids of similar likes.  For instance I sometimes see a small group that passes by and they are into the Gothic look.  I guess it all depends upon one's comfort zone and it is what formed many nations or state.  The Mormons for example settled in Utah.  I live in a semi-mixed neighborhood.  I chose to live here not because of the color or religion of the neighborhood but simply because I liked the house, I liked the city, I liked the way the neighborhood looked, i.e., neat homes with manicured lawns etc.

I read an interesting study once about how the color of a newly painted house will affect a neighborhood and soon other homes will be painted this same color. 

Being an Arrow doesn't come natural to me as it does for some people.  Admittedly, I feel somewhat uncomfortable around someone with a severe disability.  Even though I may leave my comfort zone and make contact with such a person I still feel uncomfortable doing so. 

Who says that people mean more to God than dogs or cats? Who sins less?

I believe God made animals, such as dogs/cats, for man's enjoyment.  Pets tend to show an unconditional love to their owners.  In a way they remind me of Christ who gives His love unconditionally.  It's hard for me as a believer to realize that God Himself loved me so much that he left His spiritual realm and became man.  Imagine, the creator of all that is actually came down to my level and knowingly allowed Himself to be humiliated, spit upon, stripped naked, beaten and then tortured to death by His creation so that unworthy sinners like me could simply believe in Him and have eternal life with Him.  Christians believe King David prophetically spoke of Jesus in Psalms 22 where he said: But I am a worm and not a man, a reproach of men and despised by the people.  All who see me sneer at me; they separate with the lip, they wag the head, .... 

Does anyone really want to hear this nonsence? One vote and I'm in.

You've got my vote.  Ramble on 

[Bullfrog]

Mikey, the miracle of Christ awes me also as it has people for generations but it all makes a lot of sence. He was born in the poorest of circumstances, in a manger, to show that wealth is not the true measure of a person.

I can however understand the concept of a savior as hard as that is. To understand that we will all sin and that sins must be paid for. Somebody had to pay the tab.

Only by making us realize this bloody bill can we really realize the weight of of our sins and make us try not to sin any more. His stripes bled for us. There has to be a measure to make us realize the evil of our ways and stop sinning.

To make us turn from our evil ways and stop sinning. It took a real slap in the face to get our attention. Would you send your only son to die for everyone else's sins? God knows what strings to pluck in our heart if we really listen. nothing means more to us than our children.

I didn't mean to stir this pot. It was just me and my Arrow, straight up and narrow. Where ever we go, everyone knows, it's me and my arrow. And in the morning when I wake up, she may be gone.. I don't know.

But let me tell you a simple story that means a lot to me. I may break it up into several pieces so that I don't bore you as it does get long but you came here to read other people's thoughts right?

You really don't have to keep reading it if you think it is stupid but it does touch my heart so here goes, another long Bullfrog story...but it is coming from deep inside.

I met my wife on an internet dating site. The bottom line of her post was "If you don't really love animals, don't even bother to answer."

Well I really love animals and we typed back and forth for months. She refused to talk to me on the phone until I cornered her but that is beside the point. Let me tell you how I became Arrow.

Long before I met her she was driving on the freeway and saw something that just really hurt her heart. There were several small kittens dead on the freeway. They had obviously been dumped in the middle of nowhere and wandered out onto the road and got killed.

One small white kitten was alive and running beside the road in a panic. She pulled over. All of it's siblings were dead. She called out to it but it did not look at her even once.

She chased it down and caught it. It was a pure whte kitten with bright blue eyes. She named her Freeway. She soon noticed something about this cat. She could call Kitty Kitty all she wanted or clap her hands next to this cat with no reaction. This cat was totally deaf.

Being deaf, this cat was really freaky. It trusted nobody. Everything outside of it's vision was a total surprise to it and it freaked out. This cat would not come to anyone. You can't call it and say "Here Kitty Kitty" but I still do after all of these years.

She was the oddball. She was and still is Oblio and I am her Arrow. But I worry that my post is getting too long and you are loosing interest in one of the most important stories of my life. So I will take a breath and stop for now.

"And in the morning when I wake up, she may be gone, I don't know" Did you watch the video?

Can I be a cat's best and only friend?

To you it may be nonsence, but to me and Freeway it means a lot. She is just a cat. But for some reason, this cat clings to me and me alone. She trusts nobody else and never has. Not even my wife who plucked from the side of the freeway.

I am her Arrow. I will continue to tell this story even if nobody besides me is listening. It is a story that needs to be told to myself, God and her if nobody else.

But for now it has gone too long. I will pick it up again tomorrow because I don't want to bore you with a really long post. I learned a lot from this cat, maybe I can pass it on.

To be continued.

[Esther]

I would think that a person could be either Oblio or Arrow depending on the other person/animal. They say, "No man is an island." I know I'm sure not. I would be totally lost without others to communicate with. When I retired from the bank, there went my social life. Now it is two pond forums on the computer with people I have never met but many of them are my Arrows and I am grateful for them. Hopefully I have filled that position for some in my past and will do more in the future.

Bullfrog, don't assume we don't want to hear what you have to say. Just because we don't always respond doesn't mean we didn't read what you post and draw strength and wisdom from it. Feel free to say what is on your heart. Don't you think that God put that need to connect with others, in us, just as He made us for that reason, to connect with Him?

[Sandye]

I'm riveted, Bullfrog.  Please continue!   

[miguynmkoi]

Bullfrog you have to keep us up and running.  I don't know how to articulate but I feel you.  I was a closet lurker before and sometimes it returns.  Doesn't mean I'm not here!

[Mikey]

Bullfrog, don't assume we don't want to hear what you have to say. Just because we don't always respond doesn't mean we didn't read what you post and draw strength and wisdom from it.

This is true.  In addition, yesterday for example I was out all day working around the pond and I don't think I even opened AP.

[Bullfrog]

Here she is now as an adult. Just look at her. If I was a Tomcat I would be on her like white on rice. She is really beautifull.



As I was saying, before we met my wife warned me about Freeway. That she was totally deaf, freaky and trusted no one. She told me that she came with a deaf freaked out cat, two dogs, and an African Grey Parrot that screamed all day and night.

I was OK with this as long as I got to meet her. So, after meeting my woman and time went by, she moved in with me. I met the cat. God loves good people and idiots and cats trust both immediately.

After she got settled into my house I scratched her behind her ears for a few moments and then she rolled over exposing her belly to me. This is a sign of trust in animals.

I took both of her front paws in one hand and both of her back paws in the other and gently slung her over my neck and walked around the room. My future wife was really amazed and told me that this deaf cat never, ever let another person even approach her, let alone sling her over their neck.

Time went by and soon Freeway began to ignore my wife and focus on me. If I screw up and leave my cap or gloves on the kitchen counter she finds my scent and lays on them.

She sheds like crazy making anything that you leave out completely covered in white cat hair. You would not believe how much hair this cat can shed in one night.

It could be really irritating if you did not take a step back and think about it. It could really be aggravating if I had never heard this song, "Me and my Arrow."

Cat hair rubs off but the love and trust stays around forever. Sure, she sheds like crazy but for some strange reason this cat loves me more than my wife who rescued her.

It is an evening ritual. We sit on our front porch swing and watch the sun set. The birds bring their kids to our feeder every year. We watch thier kids bring the grandbaby birds back again, year after year.

Freeway ignores my wife who saved and raised her and snuggles on my lap for some reason. She is different. She is my Oblio and for now, I am her Arrow.

It is really good to be Arrow once in a while. I think that this makes God smile.

Again, if you didn't listen to the song and watch the video, please do.It is such an important lesson that some will never learn.

[Bullfrog]

She and her Arrow. This was after I hurt my leg and I am kind of dreamy on Vicodin and Rum.

Still, this goes on every evening on our porch. Me and my Arrow, straight up and narrow. Wherever we go, everyone knows, it's me and my Arrow.

And in the morning when I wake up, she may be gone.. I don't know.

Can you feel the love?

Edited, I removed the scary picture.

[Esther]

Awww.  Two souls that meet and overlap.