Life Lesson #2: Compassion

My apologies to the next person who
rents this graduation attire. I'm sure they
will wonder why it smells like cinnamon
graham crackers...

Life lesson #2 was an expensive one. I'm afraid to pin the exact cost on it, but just imagine what 34-graduate credits at a highly-priced university will run you these days.

Today I finished my master's degree in something unrelated to dog-ology—literacy education. The graduation speaker said something mildly inspirational. The rain came on and off. And I looked out upon the carefully manicured grass at the stadium thinking, "Damn, Karina would love to run circles in this yard." (Are the Steinbrenner's looking to adopt a dog?)

My daydreams brought me to the realization that these two passions of mine—at their very core—are strikingly similar. I recalled one of my professors who created a literacy program to address the needs of the hardest-to-reach readers. They're the kids with behavioral issues who get pushed to the side. They're the kids with special needs who are overlooked. They're the diamonds in the rough that need a little extra attention in order to shine.

Sound familiar? These kids are the shelter dogs of the school world. My professor offered a quote that inspired her to create the program. For that costly diploma, I can't even recall the exact words, but to paraphrase—a society should be judged by how it treats its most vulnerable members.

And if that's not a life lesson to live by, then I don't know what is.