Year of the Dog: friendship, Love, and loyalty with Earth and Wood Energy!

2018 Chinese Lunar New Year came to us with a down to earth message: For us to understand truly the meaning of love, devotion, friendship and loyalty in this year of men's best friend. According to Chinese traditional calendar, this year's celestial energy is Wood and Earth. The strength, the stability and longevity of forest and Mother Nature clearly show us that animals are kinder, more loving, and far more trustworthy than humans.  There is a legendary story about how dogs used to have longer life spans than humans. When they heard of the human's fear of death and complains of their short lives, the dogs generously switched with humans.  We often find solace and comfort from our dogs and other domestic and wild animals when we are in need of emotional support. How many times our silent friends will walk with us, sit on our laps, nuzzle us, or just look at us with their clear and innocent eyes to make us feel that they understand and they care.

Kindness, tolerance, trustworthiness and loyalty are rare qualities that are fundamentally inherent in natural creatures. Yet, we humans with our intelligence and craftiness must diligently try to maintain. In this special Year of the Dog, while the elephant hunters and rare animal smugglers are out there killing animals to feed their greed, and the rich and powerful are manipulating our world to their own advantage,   I am humbled and grateful for those qualities our dogs and other animal friends continue to show us. They don't seem to despair of us. Must we let them down and continue to be mean, selfish, dishonest and disloyal to our fellow human beings? 

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