Fleas on a Dog

"We're like two fleas arguing about who owns the dog."

Back in the day I referred to the Young Man Syndrome. I suggested that most people hit a turning point between the ages of 18 and 25 during which they seriously review their life, often turning in a very new direction.

I'm now 26 years old and as I continue to see my peers grow older, I've come to think that this pattern isn't a one-time event. It seems to me that a lot of people actually experience a paradigm shift every few years. The cause of this change may be different. It may be graduating from university, it may be the prospect of marriage, it may be a change in career, it may a tragedy. There still seems to be the same pattern, though.

It's like the two fleas arguing about who owns the dog. At some point one of the fleas may conclude that there's more than enough dog for both of them, so why argue? At another point one of the fleas may conclude that neither of them can own the dog, they're just along for the ride. The fleas don't change, but their perspective may change. (If you would prefer, think about two humans arguing about who owns Space. Fleas are funnier, though.)

The most curious thing to me is that, while our perspective changes, so does the basis of our perspective. Earlier on, the basis of our beliefs may reside solely in what our parents taught us. Later, our beliefs may rely on what we were taught in school. Our beliefs may change based on circumstances that we experience, or on the results that we see in our lives.

My pespective in life fluctuates in this same way. It can sometimes seem like a daily shift, but I think that I also see a larger pattern of major changes every few years in my life. And you know what? My foundation through it all is Christ. No matter where the tides of life move me, no matter how my reasons evolve, I still choose to come back to the Truth.

We two fleas are still talking. "Is there a Dog? Does Dog even exist?"