THE STRAY DOG WHO CAPTURED THE WORLD’S HEART Kupata’s Road to Fame
We often think dogs live the good life, as they seem to do nothing but play, eat, and sleep. Yet, some dogs are busy at work, some without being asked to do so! Take Kupata, the stray dog in Georgia, for example. This street- roaming pup takes it upon himself to guard a crosswalk all day, every day .
In the town of Batumi, this stray stays by a single crosswalk and forces traffic to stop to allow pedestrians to cross the street. He’s especially protective of children! If Kupata sees a car isn’t slowing down, he’ll bark at the driver as they drive away and run to protect the person crossing the street. One local even shared that Kupata will cross the road with children and stay at the park to protect the youngsters. Kupata, which in English means “sausage,” has become a staple in the community due to his hard work, and locals all pitch in to care for and feed the stray dog. His consistently round belly shows just how loved he is. You’ll even see a massive painting of the beloved animal on a nearby building. Now, after tireless days of guarding his street, Kupata has his own doghouse provided by the city with an accompanying star on the road with his name on it. Kupata’s dedication made him go viral on social media, and now travelers from all over the world come to see Kupata. Don’t distract him, though. He’s busy at work! Sadly, even though Kupata remains cherished by his community, thousands of stray dogs in the country need shelter, food, and companionship. According to activists, around 500,000 stray dogs and cats roam the streets of Georgia. While stray animals may get a bad reputation for being dangerous or unfriendly, Kupata proves that even these furry friends deserve love and recognition.
You Can’t Always Be Playing Defense
WHY WE ALL NEED TO LIVE PROACTIVELY
The holidays are a time for fun, celebration, thankfulness, and of course, giving. So, why do we make so many decisions, even this time of year, on what we should NOT do or say versus what we should do or say?
can’t operate in a bubble every day either. If we want to enjoy and experience life for all it’s worth before we die, we need to expand, take some risks, and make decisions that allow us to live better. Remember the saying about regret — at the end of your days, it is not so much what you did do that haunts you, it’s what you didn’t do. If it’s something physical, maybe a new daily exercise program will push your limit a bit, no matter your physical condition. It may be a meditation or yoga class for mental health, even though you have no interest in that “woo woo” stuff. From the spiritual side, it may be attending a new church service in person or online. In your business or investment, maybe you put some money into Bitcoin, even if you are not a huge believer in it. The ideas mentioned here briefly are all very easy, and your first reaction may be that I am not pushing the envelope at all on anything, and you would be right. I am not saying you need to skydive tomorrow or carry a bag of money in San Francisco, Chicago, or Portland, but every day needs to have a level of expansion and newness. Otherwise, you are growing into an old grouch, and no one wants to be around an old grouch around the holidays.
Why are we playing defense all the time?
I realize you must be careful, practical, and maybe even frugal, but you cannot go through most of your days just playing defense. I am not just talking about investing or entrepreneurship. I am talking about all areas of life. A friend told me last week that someone tried to break into his house at about 3 a.m. while he was home. He only knew this happened after he checked his security cameras two days later and noticed two men trying to enter his home through the front door. This is very serious, and I would be making decisions about how to better protect and defend my home and family. But not him. He had an “oh well” attitude about it and would not let it bother him. What? You’d better be making decisions like maybe a better security system, or how about training with a firearm? Have a plan with the family in case something like this happens again? No, not him. It will just go away, and he is too busy anyway to decide to do something about it.
–Darin
We all need to be proactive with decisions of obvious protection and defense, especially with the more common things (like a break-in!) in our lives, but we
2 DARINGARMAN.COM
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