Perspective 101

A dog is a dog is a dog, to paraphrase
the perspicacious Gertrude Stein. It remains
the instinctual reflex of very small dogs to 
proclaim themselves in control of any situation
failing to notice that they are indeed very 
small and cannot even control circumstances 
leading to their own security as instanced 
when confronted by a large, very large dog 
when the small one curdles in confused
terror, hunching into itself to become not
larger, but smaller, not to be noticed and
thus survive the encounter though there are
no guarantees. This the law of the jungle
as it were, one that prevails in all animal
kingdoms including that animal that prides 
itself on self-elevation to the heights of the 
kingdom's executive level challenged by 
no other. Yet humankind challenges itself 
incessantly, the little man convinced of the
inviolability of his person and his personal 
opinion criticizing those of greater physical 
dimension in the sense of having attained 
the power of political tyranny accustomed 
to dispatching critics to the netherworld. 
Unless one lives within the security of a 
law-and-order community of communities 
when all and sundry may yap to their hearts' 
content, no fear of repercussion armed with
the weapon of the ballot box at his disposal.