The cashier at the store will be rude. Your colleague will let you down. Your kids will aggravate you. There will always be instances in your life where people will annoy or disappoint. Recently, I was taught an important perspective on dealing with difficult people from a very wise being–a furry, four-legged sage with waggy tail and curious wet nose.

Last week, hurricane Sandy forced my sister to evacuate and stay with her boyfriend. His apartment is too small to keep both her and her dog, so I gladly took in Labrador puppy, Knuckles. Knuckles was a big hit with the family right away. The kids, both my children and the grown up kid I call “my husband,” loved playing with the puppy. I’ve never had a dog, but I really took to him too…until I found the chewed up heel to one of my shoes on the living room floor.

“Knuckles!!!!!!! What did you do?!?!?” I screamed so loudly that my kids appeared from all corners of the house to see what mommy was yelling about.

(simulation, the actual crime scene was not recorded)

The puppy dropped the rest of my shoe and cowered with his tail between his legs. I stormed towards him with my fist clenched to decide how I was going to punish him. He looked at me with big, wet puppy eyes full of remorse while I glared at him seething. I could see that he felt terrible about what he did. He just didn’t know any better.

All of a sudden, my anger diffused. I’ve always been a sucker for cuteness, but it was more than that. I realized that I had no right to be angry at a puppy. Puppies chew shoes. It’s a thing they do. Just like babies poop in diapers, husbands leave their socks on the floor, and in-laws try to visit at innopportune moments. It’s ok  to be upset when bad events happen. I certainly wish my shoes weren’t ruined. But to harbor that anger at a person (or puppy) is bad for your mental health. If anything, you should take responsibility and learn not to let those situations occur again. It was really my fault for leaving my shoes out where a puppy can chew them.

A few days ago, I gladly returned Knuckles to my sister. Since then, I’ve had a whole new outlook on how I react to my children, co-workers, and people in general. My new mantra is “think of everyone like a puppy.” Shoes will get chewed from time to time. Stuff happens. Kids will get a bad test grade. Co-workers will mess up. People will aggravate you. It’s just a thing they do sometimes. Instead getting mad, just correct them and forgive. After all, they usually don’t know any better.