The Special Problem

Tracy & I picked up Everyday Osho: 365 Daily Meditations for the Here and Now and have been reading a meditation a day and discussing. Now, I'm not a fan of this book. Neither is she. I get that it's translated so potentially a lot is lost there. There were meditations we flipped to in the middle of the book that seemed ok, but since we've started from the beginning, so many are just... well, crappy, disparate, and bleh. So we decided to approach this in a new way. We'd read the title and that's it. Then write our own short something, be it Osho-esque ramblings, short story, one liner, whatever fits for that title in our brains. What I like about this is 1) it's fun to share this w/Tracy and discuss it and hear our different perspectives, and 2) hopefully it gets me back to daily writing.
Below is my first, written in ~10 minutes (and it shows).

Osho meditation title: THE SPECIAL PROBLEM

There was a dog named Scooter who had a very special problem.  Christmas was approaching and Scooter wanted to show his friends how much he cared for them, but he was very poor. He had only one bone to his name, with no tool to even divide it amongst his friends. While dozing off to sleep one afternoon, he closed his eyes tightly and made a wish:

“If I could have an endless supply of bones, I could deliver them to my friends everywhere, and they’d realize how much I love them. Please grant me this wish.”

When Scooter woke, imagine his surprise when he found not one, but TWO bones resting by his side. “I wonder where this extra bone came from,” he thought. But, no matter, it was there, and he happily began to think about which friend should receive it.

After a bit, he asked to go outside. In his backyard, he found 7 more bones scattered throughout the grass! Joyously, he went from house to house, leaving a bone for each of his neighborhood dog friends. His friends, in turn, came by to thank him and express their gratitude for his kindness.

Scooter was feeling very good about himself and was overjoyed he could deliver a bone to each friend as a token of appreciation for having them in his life.

Over the next week, bones began to pile up, presenting themselves at an exponential rate. Scooter started to leave them on random street corners and behind garbage cans for the homeless dogs to find, since he had way more than he knew what to do with.

One morning, Scooter woke to find himself not resting comfortably on the floor, but atop a HUGE pile of bones! Startled, he quickly realized the entire house was filled with bones. He clawed and panted his way to the door and went outside, finding even MORE bones scattered everywhere! So many that he couldn’t even see the ground. Sitting on top of one pile were a group of his friends, looking forlorn and scared.

His friends cried out, “Scooter! Please stop bringing us all these bones! Our teeth have become worn from all the chewing. We have nowhere to run as the bones have taken up all the open space. We have nowhere to relieve ourselves as we can’t smell the grass any longer. Please make this stop!”

Scooter was a very sad dog. With his tail between his legs and head hung low, he slunk back inside and began to howl a lonely, deeply mournful wail. Instead of appreciating his love, his friends were angry with him. The stress was too much and he closed his eyes again, pleading to have his wish negated. He lay on his side, feeling unwanted, beaten down, and very upset to have caused his friends such grief.

When Scooter woke, he was back on the floor, one partially chewed bone resting by his side. “Could it be?” he wondered. “Has my wish come true?”

Scooter rose and walked outside. His friends were waiting for him with smiles on their faces. They gathered around him and howled songs of joy. “Scooter! We love YOU! We don’t want your bones, nor toys, nor any other gift from you other than your undying loyalty and friendship which we’ve had all along.”

Scooter beamed with a warmth he’d never felt before. His special problem was not about finding the means to give riches and gifts to his friends. His problem was that up until this moment, he didn’t realize he was special enough inside to give the only gift that truly matters: love.