I have accepted my position in life....

In antiquity, Don Quixote had Sancho Panza, Robinson Crusoe had his man, Friday, and Sherlock had Dr. Watson. During the Golden Age of Alpinism, Sir Hillary had Tenzing Norgay and Lionel Terray had Louis Lachenal. In our time, Lindsay has his Lockery and now Loki has Farrow; every great figure in history has a committed Man-servant.

The magical bond that develops betwixt leader and the obsequious servant is an extraordinary phenomenon that involves a mutually symbiotic relationship whereby the leader benefits from the unconditional support of the Man-servant and the servant is blessed with the company of a charismatic figure that transcends such petty and trivial concerns such as access to healthcare and pensions.

I am not here to argue that these relationships are naturally occurring and/or devoid of rancor or resentment. At the onset of such relationships there can exist an initial period of jealousy, even contempt, but as the brilliance of the leader becomes more and more apparent the Man-servant is more willing to take the second position, the position of care-giver and trusted confidant in the hope that history will remember such devotion. In the writer’s situation, at the outset of Loki’s grandiose entrance into his world, he was reluctant to take the back seat to the canine’s seemingly carefree, pompous, “larger-than-life” approach to life. The second-in-command was distrustful of the newly arrived leader’s zest for deer and cat excrement. The lavishness in which the leader threw himself, with unbridled enthusiasm, into the entrails of putrid road kills caused the staff (and the writer) to question his motives and even his morality. During those first few weeks, the writer felt betrayed by his leader’s promiscuous gallivanting hedonistic forays…but now the Man-servant has come to accept Loki for his virtuosity and to “look away” when the leader acts in ways that may detract from the making of his legacy, (just as we must in the making of Lance's legacy or Clinton's role in history).

This morning as Loki awoke me from a deep sleep at 4:18 a.m. to accompany him on his early morning walk about, I felt initial bitterness, even outrage, but immediately I repressed these emotions and accepted his eccentricities as a simple manifestation of his greatness. As he willy-nilly empted his bowels in the middle of the pathway, I initially felt disgust and then I knew that I did not have the ability to understand his greatness and so dutifully used the plastic bag to clean up after him….such is the degree of my transformation… I have accepted my position as that of a bit player...so it goes...