Stacy’s daughter Pypr holding Sophia. Photo/Stacy McCloud.
I failed to miss the anvil currently balancing over my threshold.
It is threatening the way I view justice.
When exercised by a system that stretches its arm by making an example, justice becomes a mere illusion.
When justice is served in that manner, “We the People” are damned, and justice becomes a fairytale.
Meep, Meep.
Meep, Meep. Walking under doorways and looking up for that obnoxious ACME anvil that aimed at flattening me as I passed any threshold got annoying after years. I resorted to sliding, shuffling, and often downright running through doorways. It wasn’t out of eagerness to arrive anywhere but to avoid tragedy and misfortune. I spent 2 years of my life looking up as I crossed a threshold. It was my social disorder, my twitch, so to speak. Out of nowhere, I expected a 260-pound wrought iron anvil to flatten my skull into my feet as happened in every episode of The Road Runner. Meep, Meep.
“God will not give us more than we can handle.” This verse helped me pull myself off the ground and find my feet again several times, to ease the hurt of friends, or offer compassion and strength to those in need.
This year, I realized that it's not even a verse in the Bible. The verse that kept me plugging along when I didn't want to plug anymore was a gross misrepresentation of the verse I found when searching for the non-existent, yet famous, Biblical quote.
Here is my new source of strength...
“When you meet trials of various kinds know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” —James 1: 2-4
As I contemplate this new verse, I think about that anvil and its use. The blacksmith’s tool is used to harden, strengthen, and shape steel. The irony is that every time the anvil flattened me, it was actually strengthening and shaping me. Adversity was teaching me as adversity often does when one listens. It’s strengthened and shaped my perception, spirit, and mind. Experiences and perceptions can become altered so radically that we find ourselves seeing through a new prescription that shapes our future and alters the trajectory of our thoughts and beliefs—our truths.
The week before Thanksgiving, I failed to miss the anvil that is currently balancing over my threshold. It is threatening the way I view justice. When exercised by a system that stretches its arm by making an example, justice becomes a mere illusion. When justice is served in that manner, “We the People” are damned, and justice becomes a fairytale. Meep, Meep.
It was Thomas Jefferson who said, “When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty.” We are walking in times where those who have given their careers and lives to uphold this idea must be reminded of their duty or removed from their duty.
Stacy’s son, Saxon, hugging Sophia. Photo/Stacy McCloud.
November 16, 2023. I was running my dog, Sophia, on WCR 396. She runs beside and sometimes behind my 1971 Blazer. We traveled the roads less traveled, and she was running off-leash. This flat, desolate road is mainly traveled by birds, tumbleweeds, and oil field traffic. At the beginning of this beautiful exercise trip, I watched a white Suburban pull off to the side of the road a few miles ahead. Sophia ran beside me, and I drove around 9-13 miles an hour, enjoying the day.
Sophia loves watching the baby birds! Video/Stacy McCloud
As we got closer to the Suburban, rounding the bend in the road where it was parked on the side of the road, I made eye contact with the driver, and he saw me running my girl. He chose this time to let his small dog out just as my dog stopped to relieve herself. In all his time sitting there, he chose to release his dog while he admittedly saw me running my large dog.
I saw this transpire in my rearview mirror and immediately tried to turn my old stick shift Chevy relic to keep my dog on track. Before I did a 3-point turn with my tank of a truck on the narrow road, the driver and Suburban came barreling toward me. To prevent him from hitting my truck’s grill, I backed up and nearly put my antique in the ditch, my rear right tire balancing precariously.
The man jumped out of his vehicle in what I perceived as a threatening manner. I felt the blood leave my body and the hairs on my arms stand at attention as he screamed at me about my dog biting his dog. None of which I saw as I was focusing on maneuvering my land yacht on WCR 396.
I was terrified something would happen to me because of this man’s seemingly unstable personality and out-of-control driving on a dirt road. He struck me as dangerous. My spidey senses tingled something fierce, so I did the only thing I could think of—I grabbed my phone and started recording. I recorded him admitting to seeing me running my dog. But he didn’t answer my question: why did he release his dog when he clearly saw me running mine?
I felt like he was more concerned about detaining me, arguing, and trying to intimidate me than he was about his allegedly bitten dog. When I looked into his vehicle, the dog was sitting there, looking back at us. I never saw any injuries.
Stacy’s dogs in the 1971 Chevy “land yacht.” Photo/Stacy McCloud
What will happen to our dog and my 12-year-old son’s snuggle buddy? I feel that this one-time offense will be used to make an example out of her. How do I explain this as justice to my children?
Even though this was Sophia’s first offense where she had allegedly bit a dog (that was near the size of the rabbits and squirrels she likes to chase on our property), the next day a caravan of 4 or 5 deputies, an animal control officer, and an On Patrol: Live film crew (they filmed the entire incident live—my property, my children, my home, and my vehicles to which I did not consent) showed up to collect my dog.
Colorado doesn’t have a state-wide leash law, and it isn’t a one-bite rule state. Yet, with no history of aggressive behavior and only an alleged charge of biting another dog on a country road, Sophia may be euthanized.
Pypr & Sophia playing. Video/Stacy McCloud
Sophia “driving” the stick shift Chevy Blazer. Photo/Stacy McCloud
The holiday season softens most of us a little and reminds us of those around us, those far from us, and those we've lost. This holiday season, I do not want to count my doggo, my Sophia, among those I’ve lost. Today, I want to continue to look through these rose-colored glasses. I want my little thing back; I don’t want her used as an example. Thank God for the little things that take up the most room in our hearts; they are really the big things.
See some of my favorite videos of my sweet Sophia below.
#beautyinthebeasts #skingirl #savesophia #pitbull #goofydogs #justiceforsophia #sophiathepitbull #liveyourbestlife #mccloudlife
Getting sprayed with water—it’s a game! Video/Stacy McCloud
A good, yet impatient, mama. Video/Stacy McCloud
Sophia loves going on car rides with Saxon. Video/Stacy McCloud
