I recently had to tell a doctor to euthanize my best friend, “Scout.” It was undoubtedly the worst day I’ve endured in almost three scores of life, but was made much better by a doctor in Andalusia who probably prefers to remain unnamed.

Scout was named by an attorney friend of mine in Nashville, Tenn., after a character in the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird.” As all ASN readers would likely know, this novel was written by Harper Lee, of Monroeville, Alabama. It was required reading in my junior high school in Houston, Texas, in the early 1970s. I hope it is and always has been required reading here in Alabama schools. My Scout exhibited the courage and the integrity of the female daughter depicted in the book.

What may be unusual to many people is that Scout was a member of the species Canis familiaris. This is contrast of course, to the single race that is the same among all people of all makes or colors or genders who are usually referred to as Homo sapiens.

General George S. Patton perhaps said it best (with my limited paraphrasing): There is a great deal of talk about loyalty from the bottom to the top. But loyalty from the top down is even more necessary.

In my mind, a dog is not just a dog; he or she is probably your best friend.

 

Walter Boyd, III

Andalusia