Let Go Of Resentment - Drop It, Leave It


by Mary Lee Bensman - Date: 2007-04-25 - Word Count: 457 Share This!

One year, I decided to be a puppy-raiser for Canine Companions for Independence, an organization that trains dogs to serve people with disabilities other than blindness. My eight-week old lab/golden mix came with a puppy-raising video and a manual. "Doc" had to learn over 35 commands during the year I raised him. One of those commands was, "drop it." Obviously this one taught the pup to immediately let go of whatever was in his mouth at the time. Since labs and retrievers naturally "retrieve," Doc was a master at picking up anything and everything in his mouth. The instant I dropped anything, it was in his mouth. Since he was being trained with the hope of becoming a service dog, he had strict rules about what was and wasn't allowed in his mouth. People-food, for one, was a no-no. Rocks (one of his favorites) was also on the forbidden list.

And so "drop it" became one of the most frequently practiced commands. The second was, "leave it." This was to prevent the pup from picking up a taboo item in the first place. On the "leave it" command, the pup was to immediately back away from whatever his sniffer was interested in. Doc became highly skilled at "drop it." As quickly as he heard the words, the item left his mouth. However, satisfied that he had fulfilled all requirements, he would pick it right back up again as soon as it hit the floor! And so, "drop it" was quickly followed by "leave it". "Drop it-leave it" soon became a single command. There was no point in saying the one without the other. Sometimes, in my own life, there are some hurts that, even once I've done the work and truly forgiven the person, I just can't seem to let it go. Maybe it is the devil trying to destroy my peace of mind. Whatever the demon, it is real and annoying. Resentment comes without warning, without relenting. Thoughts come, memories surface, conversations are reenacted in my mind.

At some point, I needed to just tell myself "drop it." Just let it go. Sometimes that is enough. Other times I needed to use the elongated "drop it-leave it" command. And I may have needed to do it seventy times seven times a day. John Pezzenti, Jr. who spent 25 years studying and photographing eagles for his book, The American Eagle, told a story of one bird that snatched onto a huge king salmon. It was so heavy, the eagle couldn't lift it out of the water. But it would not drop its catch. In the blink of an eye, the eagle was dragged under the water to its death. Let go. Do it before it does you in.


Related Tags: forgiveness, forgive, peace of mind, let go, heal, resentment, drop it

Mary Lee Bensman has written over 200 articles that have been published in more than 40 magazines and newspapers. She has published two books of fiction, "Antipodean, The Secret of Mirror Lake" and "Through Mary's Eyes, Conversations with the Mother of God." She is a regular columnist for The Chaffee County Times in Buena Vista, Colorado.

For more information, go to http://maryleebensman.com

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