A Dog to its Vomit

Back in ought three, I visited Aberdeenshire and environs, and a number of castles were on the itinerary. In one of them, the wooden beams in an upper storey room were inscribed with verses from the Bible. Among the verses: "Like a dog to its vomit, so returneth a fool to his foolishness." From that moment, this became my favorite proverb. If I had a coat of arms, it would be the motto emblazoned under a pair of rampant retching hounds.

That proverb resonated with me on several levels. In the first instance, we have had a number of dogs over the years who seem to vomit just for the fun of it. Frankly, vomit is about the least offensive substance that ordinarily comes out of a dog, and as the proverb implies your dog might just take care of it for you. I have never understood why dogs do this. It's as if their bodies have said "this food does not meet canine nutritional standards and may be toxic" and their brains have replied "let's eat it anyway".

This sums up some aspects of my own life as well. I have been known to do the same foolish thing over and over again despite knowing the consequences. Thankfully, I have improved over the years, but wisdom comes slowly to me. The proverb is actually helpful in a couple of ways. First, a part of me recognizes that I am about to return to my folly and warns me off with the proverb as mantra. In the alternative, I go with the folly anyway but use the proverb to make fun of myself rather than going into a cycle of self loathing. I have come to think of a number of things as "dog's vomit", things that I have managed to put aside or that I am trying to avoid. This can be especially helpful in dieting, I am finding. That tube of chocolate chip cookie dough with my name on it? Dog's vomit.

The proverb applies even more to the world around me, especially the political sphere. We keep coming back to the same ideas and solutions that don't work and even do more harm than good. Government programs are all dog's vomit. Political parties and politicians are dog's vomit. Why do we reward government failure with more power and resources? We're vomit eating dogs.