EOIN BANAHAN
"Learning to live and living to learn"
After the wife’s birthday, which I have managed to survive for another year following a somewhat belated, yet judicious visit to Javier, (pronounced Have-ee-air), the local florist, today is the second most important date in the domestic calendar. For today, is Lily’s (the dog who must be adored), birthday. “Happy birthday your majesty!”
You will note the order of importance – date 1 (wife), date 2 (dog). When I tell you that date 3 is our wedding anniversary, I expect you will ask, “but what about you, the man of the house?”. I can see the quizzical look on your face, as you recoil with evident frown. Well, let me tell you. For a long time now, I have accepted my position on the lower rungs of the domestic ladder, which, for those of you who may have attended a course at a reputable business school at some time in your development, resembles the famous “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs”. Like Maslow and his categories of motivation, in our house there is a similar hierarchy, but not of "needs". For us, it is a hierarchy of “breeds”. At the apex of the pyramid, sits the wife in all her splendor, looking out over her domain, Queen of all that she surveys. Of course, she is busy in her reign and stressed out because of the many demands on her time and talents, for as the immortal bard put it in his dramatization in Henry the IV, “uneasy is the head that wears the crown”. Then below her in the hierarchy, reclines Lily, (the dog who must be adored), like the favored eunuch at the court of the Empress Cleopatra, stretched out on the duvet, mithering away in my direction because, let us face it, I am a miserable surplus to requirements in the household. Then, below her we have a various assortment of characters from the family, and others who, in Lily’s estimation, are liberal with the issuing of treats on the morning walk in the park. It is not until you plunge deep into the basement of the pyramid, below the foundation of the hierarchy of importance will you find me, waiting for my orders as I was this morning when Lily emerged from the folds of the duvet having decided that I had wasted enough time on the couch in quiet contemplation. Yes, I know my place in the domestic hierarchy of breeds!
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AuthorI am an organizational development specialist and managing director of RoundRose Associates Ltd Archives
August 2021
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