Day 114: Hey kid, you'd better step over here and take a good look.-- Dinky

Hey kid, you'd better step over here and take a good look.-- Dinky, The Fox and The Hound

This semi-ominous (yet good) quote comes to us after Todd and Copper have grown into adults. Dinky the bird decides to give the extremely naieve Todd the fox a harsh reality check about how foxes and hunting/hound dogs normally behave. It foreshadows a very dark, yet quick, scene in the film.

Have you ever had someone tell you to get a good look at something? Was it for something nice like the details of a piece of artwork or perhaps it was for something harder to see, such as how someone treats another person when they think no one is looking? Maybe it was to find details for something. It's always a good thing to take a good hard look at things sometimes, even ourselves, because it may challenge our thinking in good ways, likewise it may challenge our thinking in bad ways.

I'll admit, when I picked this quote, I wasn't sure how I was going to take this one, but I knew I liked the quote because of all the diffrent ways I could take it. In Todd's case, he learned that dogs usually hunt foxes as a way of life and Amos Slade, Copper's owner, was training Copper to hunt foxes like him for their pelts. Widow Tweed raised Todd like a baby human in a way and shielded him from the harsh reality foxes have outside her care. It was a huge shock to Todd to learn what could happen to him if he wasn't careful out in "the real world", which is not always as nice and helpful as we all want it to be.  Todd understandably goes through denial and holds out hope that Copper is not as Dinky said he'd grow up to be. Yet with this new knowledge about dogs, Todd still holds out hope that Copper will not turn out to be like the others.

It's always good to hold out hope for the best in a person, and sometimes that never happens. Should that ever happen, it's ok to let them go. Yet sometimes we see the best in someone and still have to let them go to protect them. Widow Tweed knew what Amos was teaching Copper and Chief, Amos's elderly dog, and wanted to protect Todd as best she could. In doing so she releases Todd into a wildlife sanctuary where he should be safe and live his best foxy life ever.  Todd questions why she drops him off after being with her for many years, but that questioning doesn't last long when he makes a new foxy friend, all the while Amos is still training Copper. Copper and Todd eventually meet again later in the film as adults, but not under the best circumstances because of Amos Slade's hatred and thirst for revenge. How it ends, I'll leave it for you to decide to watch. I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it.  So with that I'll leave this post.

Until next time, always remember to take a good hard look at everything and everyone, and as always Keep Cooking with Character!