One of the saddest sights in the world is
watching someone put up posters of their lost pet. As I sat in my car waiting
at the traffic lights yesterday, I watched as a man on a bicycle stopped at the
intersection and stuck his lost dog poster up on a post. It looked like every
other lost dog poster – printed out on A4 paper with the obligatory cute photo
of poochie/turbo/fang. Only those cute photos are often so close up that you
can’t quite tell what type of dog they are. Or the poor dog has red eye from
the camera flash, so that your initial reaction is, ‘I hope I don’t run into
that devil dog.’
I couldn’t help but feel the futility of
the man’s little poster and as I glimpsed his face, he looked so forlorn and
seemed to be on the verge of tears that my heart broke just a little bit.
Maybe he’ll find his dog. It happens. His
lost poster may match up with someone’s found poster and he and his beloved dog
will be reunited.
If only we could put up lost posters for
other things we lose and have them returned to us - like friends, youth and the
ability to backflip off a swing without breaking a limb.
