Try, try again

Today I did something I said I would never do again. (One day I will stop saying 'never'). I took Thomas to exercise class again this morning. The last time I took him, he barked and whined and disrupted the class. But today, probably three months after that first episode, I took him again.
He was an angel. He chewed his bone and licked all the peanut butter off the kong and then dozed. I was so proud of him.
I was also proud of myself for having the courage to try again. The leader of our group said, "Everyone deserves another chance." She was right.
I learnt today to never write someone off, not people and not dogs. Sometimes they just need a bit more time to mature. Sometimes they just need some encouragement and someone to trust them.
Leopards can't change their spots but we humans are not leopards and we can change.
I know that I have changed and I'm glad I did. I am not the same person now that I was when I was thirty. I've heard people say "He is not the same man that I married," as if that is grounds for divorce. But no one stays the same. We are all changing day by day, slowly but surely. We only have to look at photos to see how much we have changed over the years. We do not only change on the outside but we change on the inside as well.
I would like to think that we all change for the better, but sadly that is not the case. When I was a lot younger than I am now, I used to think that wisdom and grace and love became more evident in our lives as we grew older. I was wrong.  I met a critical, sour old man who just became more critical and sour as the years progressed. How sad.
So I conclude that how we change is up to the choices we make in life. The choices we make today influence our lives in the future. If we choose to forgive, to love, to live a peaceful non judgemental lifestyle, it may not all happen at once, but we need to try, try again until these things we choose for ourselves become habit patterns of our lifestyle.
I keep working on my attitude and I keep working and hoping for the best with Thomas. As much as I am teaching him, he is teaching me.