Category: One Veterinarian’s Musings
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Learning
Today, I’m musing about learning. I have concluded that there is no such thing as teaching, there is only learning. For example, if I were to raise my voice and angrily say to Sophie (pictured with me above), “I’m going to teach you a lesson!” no learning would occur. Sophie is at once a bad […]
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Maturity
Today, I’m musing about maturity. The most recent issue of National Geographic has an article about orphan elephants. I received two take-home lessons from the article: 1) Maturity is contagious. 2) Direct contact is required for the transmission of maturity. One incident that occurred in South Africa involved some traumatized orphaned elephants that grew up […]
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Age of Biology
Today, I’m musing about the Age of Biology. I want to digress at the outset. In my last column I wrote, “… think of all the words and numbers—abstractions—each of us is exposed to every day today in the Age of Information!” I misspoke. I should have written the Short-Human-Time of Information–the third Short-Human-Time; #1 was the Agricultural Age […]
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The differences between animals and humans
Today, I’m musing about the differences between animals and humans. As I was walking along side the onramp to highway 10 in Waupaca, looking for Erin’s—Nancy’s daughter’s—lost wallet, thoughts I rarely have came to me. I noticed I was thinking about how I am different from animals. Normally, I am thinking about the universality of […]
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Trust
Today, I’m musing about trust. I started writing this column last week. When I pondered trust, I opened a floodgate of so many thoughts and emotions that I chose to put away this musing for a bit. My goal was to make two points; 1) Any and all interactions we have with animals involve trust […]
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The death of one’s pet
Today, I’m musing about the death of one’s pet. Veterinarians devote a much higher percentage of their professional time and services to end-of-life issues than all the other healthcare professionals. Why is this? A number of factors come to mind. The most obvious one is that all the other healthcare professionals care for people and […]
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Cats and Plato’s Cave
Today, I’m musing about cats and Plato’s Cave. Don Nelson, our pastor’s father, wrote to me after reading my last column. “I have always been a ‘cat’ person, so I see dogs and cats in a different light than you do.” One Veterinarian’s Musing gave Don the impression I am a “dog person”? I love […]
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Family
Today, I’m musing about family while sitting in a gray-rubbery chair at the O’Hare Airport. I’m trying to get back home after attending my nephew’s wedding in Texas. It is said, “We teach what we most need to learn.” I’ve been teach, teach, and teaching (whether paid or not) ever since I got started teaching […]
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Mystery of the animal-human bond
Today, I’m musing about the mystery of the animal-human bond. I’m considering two questions in particular; “Do animals help us discover who we are?” “Are our fur-bearing friends picking up on Today’s everywhere-all-the-time anxiety and fear?” After a lifetime of animal stories—my own and those of others—something Bill Lipschultz said to me over our recent […]
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Sturgeon Marveling
Today, I’m continuing to muse and to marvel about sturgeon. I want to use a dead sturgeon to address the question I posed in my last column: “How is it possible for veterinarians to have a working knowledge of so many animals—an estimated 60,000 species of animals within the 5 groups with backbones?” While I’d […]