I believe that people can learn

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14415923

I chose one of the very first essays on the page, called Teaching a Bad Dog New Tricks. In this essay, David, a workaholic bachelor doesn't depend on anyone and doesn't have anyone to care for and likes it that way. He rarely goes out with friends or on dates because of work. One day, however, he wakes up and realizes how empty and lonely his life is, so he decides to get a dog, a chocolate lab named Duncan. Since then, Duncan has taught David many life lessons including appreciation, loyalty, friendliness, and the importance of relationships.
I chose this essay initially because I like animals, dogs in particular. That may seem to be knid of a juvenile way to choose an essay, but not everything is rocket science. Some things really are as simple as they seem. When I began reading the article, I fell in love with the opening line "I believe in my dog." It was so simple and sweet and interesting that I just had to keep reading the essay, and the more I read the more I thought it made an excellent point. Why can't we be more like dogs? That sounds like an odd thing to say, maybe, but dogs truly appreciate the simpler aspects of life like eating the same thing everyday when we wonder what to eat everyday in a kitchen full of food, as David said in the essay. Or how they always seem to love us no matter what we do. I really wish that was a lesson people could learn. That may be overly optimistic and a little bit foolish, because sometimes people shouldn't always be given another chance to hurt us, but sometimes people give up on us too soon when we really just made a mistake and need them to hold on just a little bit longer. Dogs do that. And they show us how important our relationships are and sometimes what we really do need whether we realize it or not. David didn't realize that he needed something in his life that depended on him but when he got it, that's exactly what he'd been looking for. Ironic as it may seem and whether we humans as the "superior" race want to admit it, we can learn a lot from our dogs.