#338 - Remember the Dogman

Borrowed from Tri-Cities.com

 

I lived a pretty charmed life as a kid.  Southwest Virginia no doubt has it's share of issues today, as I'm sure it also did in the 80s and 90s, but I barely noticed.  Things seemed squeaky clean, and there was never fear of danger or crime.  My friends and I would chase the mailman each day in the summer.  He always had treats for children and was just a very nice old man.  Nobody blinked an eye.  Today I'm sure we'd look a bit differently at a stranger who regularly lured our kids to his truck with the promise of bubblegum and "Sugar Daddy's".

Another thing I was never exposed to was homelessness.  So much so that the one "homeless" man in our town became a bit of a local celebrity.  My cousin and I deemed him the "dog man" because of the companions he was never without.  Rumors were rampant about him all over the city.  Some said he was homeless and a crazy, disabled vet.  Others said he was secretly an eccentric millionaire who preferred to live simply.  There were many reports of dog man refusing shoes and other charity.  The one thing that everyone seemed to agree on, though, was that he was harmless.

Today a facebook friend posted this article from my hometown paper: Goad: 'He chose the life he wanted to live'

It turns out that a little piece of each story may have been true.  The dog man, whose real name was Lu, sadly passed away this past Monday from cancer.  He did have a bit of money, but not millions.  He was a vet, but not crazy.  Above all, Lu did prefer to live simply.  He was not a burden on society or our environment and, perhaps best of all, he was completely and utterly free. 

Thanks for the lesson, Lu.  You'll be remembered by us all.

**date on this should actually be March 23, 2011