The Summer They Taught Me About Peace

I sit on my porch now, seventy-eight years old, watching the sunset paint the sky in those same soft pinks and oranges I remember from the summer of 1952. My grandfather sat where I sit now, whittling and watching, while I learned about friendship from the most unlikely teachers.

We had a dog named Buster then—a golden retriever with a heart bigger than the pasture behind our farmhouse. And every evening at dusk, a red fox would emerge from the woods along the fence line. Most farmers would have shot a fox, but Grandpa said, 'Sometimes the best things in life are the ones you don't expect.'

Buster and that fox became the oddest friends you ever saw. They'd meet at the old baseball field where I played Little League—me in my too-big uniform, Grandpa on the wooden bleachers cheering even when I struck out. The fox would sit on the pitcher's mound while Buster lay near home plate, both watching as I practiced my swing until my arms ached.

I asked Grandpa once why they didn't fight. He said, 'Son, friendship ain't about being the same. It's about respecting differences and finding common ground. That fox could have chased rabbits, but he chose company instead. That dog could have barked, but he chose companionship.'

That baseball season, I learned more from watching them than I ever learned from the rulebook. When our team made it to the championships, I saw them both sitting there—Buster on the bench, the fox perched on the dugout roof—as if they'd come to watch the boy who'd watched them all summer.

Now, looking back across decades of life—marriage, children, grandchildren, loss and love—I understand what Grandpa meant. The world would be a better place if we all learned to sit beside someone different from us and simply watch the sun go down together.

Some nights, just as darkness falls, I swear I see a flash of red at the edge of the yard and hear the familiar jingle of a dog collar. And I smile, remembering that wisdom isn't found in great books or grand gestures. Sometimes it's found in a dog and fox who taught a boy that the best teams aren't always the ones wearing matching uniforms.