If there was one thing that my life has taught me so far it would be how I learn. After going through four hamsters, six beta fish, two turtles, and countless goldfish you would think that I would be able to know what to do for any animal. In spring break my mom challenged me saying that if I wanted a dog I had to earn it and to earn it I had to clean my room for 6 months straight. There couldn't be anything on the floor. EVER. I took this challenge because I really wanted a dog. The date I had to finnish by was my birthday. Almost four months in I had to start over. By this point it was less for the dog and more to prove to my dad that I could do it. After starting over my new date was labor day. Now it is almost two months to labor day and I would have to start over again.
The thing is this challenge was supposed to be teaching me, but all it has done was show just how much of a slob I am and just how much I hate my life. So today I told my mom that I accepted the fact that I will never get a dog. Let alone help the ones that are at the shelter. I explained to her that I can't learn this way. I said that with the hamsters I didn't perfect cleaning my room until I had hamsters there to encourage me to keep going. So I told her that I will not be able to do this. I wouldn't be able to keep my room clean until a dog was there chewing up my stuff and until that point I wasn't going to learn.
Today I learned that I don't learn by practicing. I learn in the moment. At school I don't learn well on a computer, but with a teacher there in front of me giving me a paper that I have to figure out and learn how to do I learn quickly. So with a dog I won't ever learn unless the dog is right there doing what dogs do.
-H.M.Bird