LIGHT YEARS FROM SAINT FRANCIS

By Peter Vuono

   Eight hundred and six years ago a wolf terrorized Gubbio, Italy. the wolf stole and ate pets and livestock in addition to attacking people. When he arrived from an excursion, Francis of Assisi declared that he would confront the animal. He sought out it's lair as bystanders stood terrorized behind him. He shouted out,"Brother wolf".

   The wolf appeared actually looking contrite. Francis reprimanded him and demanded that he kill no more in exchange for food from the towns people. It became so docile that it roamed the streets as if it were everyone's pet and actually became beloved. When the church was renovated, workers found a wolf skeleton properly buried beneath the church.

   Recently, in Topanga California, police were summoned to a woman's apartment who neighbors thought was being assaulted. She was merely celebrating the Knicks win and when police arrived, her small, mixed breed dog, dressed in a Knicks shirt, got out. The police ordered her to contain the dog. Once inside the apartment,  the dog escaped again. As it approached a policeman, he chose to draw his firearm, killing the dog. The sight of the woman caressing her murdered companion was perhaps as horrifying as any horror movie that this author has ever seen.

  Los Angeles Police officers are issued, in addition to a firearm, a baton, pepper spray and a Taser. The person who shot the dog chose the deadliest weapon he had on him. Years ago, this author heard something purported to be the Shaolin Creed. It went like this: "Avoid rather than check. Check rather than injure. Injure rather than maim. Maim rather than kill." Personally, I don't think it has anything to do with the Shaolin but it certainly makes a lot of sense if we have the   means to act differently.

  When I was teaching, from Sept 94 to Oct 95, I got involved in 10 fights in 11 school months. My trump card was that I was a powerlifter and in 93 deadlifted 560lbs. I never once hit a student or kicked a student. I used everything I had to stop violence. The Chinese Characters for martial arts- Zhi Ge Wei Wu are translated as  "To stop the spear is true strength". Note that it does NOT say to kill the person throwing the spear is true strength, In this author's opinion, a baton in the face or pepper spray would have thwarted an animal of that size. When I walk my dog, I carry two- non-lethal and legal weapons with me. It is my intention to protect my dog but not kill an aggressor. "Injure rather than maim. Maim rather than kill!" I pray that Saint Roch, the patron saint of dogs comforts this woman and I pray that the person who killed the dog, repents to his God.

  In 2016 a presidential candidate said that he could"Shoot a man in the middle of 5th Ave. and get away with it". He's right; we're moving as a race more toward the darkness. We may be 806 years after Saint Francis but we are light years behind his teaching.

"Not to hurt our humble brethren, the animals, is our first duty to them"- Saint Francis