Teeth

My idea of the perfect dog is one that will protect my family. One that will be vigilant over my kids while they play in the yard. One that will die protecting us as members of its pack.

A little more than a week ago, we saw a sign for German shepherd puppies at Wal-Mart. Perfect. We called the people and went to the house to see the dogs. My son is 4 years old and has never really spent a lot of time around animals, so he was a little nervous seeing all the puppies.

The people who owned the dogs had the adults put away, but they went to get the female to give us an idea of what the puppies would look like as grown-ups. The dame came out and, immediately alerted with the strangers near her pups, she barked and half charged and was doing a double take because of the owners yelling at her.

My son was screaming, which just added to the melee. I scooped him up and extended my arm toward the dog in a “Halt!” gesture. Tommy had his arms and legs wrapped around me tighter than ever before in fear.

By now the owners had the dog headed back inside, but to my boy all he could say was “She had big teeth.” In his little view of it, all he knew was that a large set of teeth were coming at him.

All the puppies were inside a large shelter with straw on the floor. Tommy and I walked in there, and the puppies, being what they are, swarmed all over him. He asked me, “Are they going to eat me?” I said, “Of course not. They want to play.”

I thought it was funny hearing him ask that. It cracked me up. But now, more than a week later, I’ve had some time to think about that. There was my son, who I love more than anything, walking into a den of strange, big-toothed animals that scared him, and he thought he was going to be eaten and die in so much as he could comprehend such acts, and yet he trusted me enough to brave it anyway and stand his ground. He trusted that I would protect him and preserve his life. He believed his father would keep him from any harm.

We got one of the puppies, a fine mellow animal, and we are molding her into a member of our pack. We have to teach her the rules of the house and how to behave. We have to reward and punish her behavior.

Now I put this into the context of what is going on with illegal immigration. We are trusting our government to protect us from the big teethy problems that are coming at our nation from all sides. It is impossible to comprehend that the government would not protect the lives of its citizens any more than my son thinking I would not protect him. I will never abuse that trust, as the people in Washington, D.C., should never abuse ours. Our leaders should be stepping over themselves to protect this nation, to secure our lives and ensure that we are not having our throats ripped out.

Unfortunately, they have been on autopilot in D.C., too busy doing polls and making PowerPoint slide shows to get out on the ground and actually solve any problems. They have the mentality of, “If we make a law, it will be OK.” But without enforcement of the law, it is meaningless.

Too much attention is put on the fuzzy helpful worker that came here to make some money and have a better life. But let’s not forget about all those who have the teeth and are here to cause harm, to destroy lives and take what they can – with no regard of being a part of the pack.