Positive energy meets canine energy

I think about energy a lot.
I wonder: How much energy does it take to bark!? I mean, it kind of looks like it would take a lot of energy, if I were to suddenly yell that loud and urgently. . .
I watched “Oppenheimer,” and noticing how much energy went into splitting the atom.
I noticed that the fission, the explosion, the “sudden release of energy” also required a huge amount of energy to create in the first place. It’s a profound example of The Gestalt, the sum being greater than the parts – and it’s also an example of what can be done as a team.
The team-making itself was an integral part of the Oppenheimer story, and the film ends, of course, with concern regarding how this team energy was used. Who do we trust, and not trust? Who’s “on-the-team” in this time of great urgency?
We live in a time of great urgency again – and so it was with great pleasure that I spent the day at The Linden Hills 18th Annual Woofstock, “The Best Doggone Dog Fest in All of Minnesota!”
The first Saturday after Labor Day, 75-degrees under hazy skies with just tiny sprinkles of showers in the late afternoon... There was real positive energy there, and adding that to the canine energy – well, it filled me with a good feeling.
Dogs everywhere! Fun and friendliness Everywhere! I love this day, and I loved it this time so much for the ease with which it unfolded. I was really proud to see how well-run and well-staffed this community festival was. I’ve worked on a lot of over the years, and this was as smooth an event as I can remember. No big lines. Easy in/easy out for all the vendors. No big struggles or irritations. And that is saying something, considering that like 500 of the people there aren’t even people.
My wife Diane and I have been “throwing this party” for four years now, but, in fact, we don’t spend that much energy “running the event.” Our main job is to try to bring in enough money to pay for it. Other people are far more “hands on” in making the event run smoothly, and so, in this role, I was able to watch this team as more of a witness than a participant.
And I made a discovery. Or rather, I simply put two and two together. The one thing that worked really well this time was that we not only had lots of volunteers, we had well-organized volunteers. Am I surprised? No, because for the first time since Dee and I took over, we had a skilled volunteer coordinator. Someone who put energy into something that consequently paid off many times over.
She put lots of energy into it. Volunteer coordinating is actually not a difficult thing to do. It’s not highly skilled or technical work; you can do it with a pen and legal pad. Thing that my friend Susan did isn’t that hard to do except that it takes a lot of energy.
People often veer away from things that they think will take a lot of time, but it’s not so much “time” as it’s energy.
Energy is the commodity – which is one of the reasons that people love Woofstock. The dogs give more energy than they take. When you’re there with all this good, positive canine energy, humming at a higher vibration and faster rate than ours – It really makes you feel good. The day is a big rejuvenator for many of us.
So think about coming out next year. It’s always the first Saturday after Labor Day! WOOF!!