Monday, April 20, 2009

Horsing Around, Or Thinking Outside The Box?

In the Melbourne Herald Sun on April 11 was a picture of a young Muslim woman with a small pony and the following words: “ Blind Michigan women Mona Ramouni can’t have a guide dog because her Islamic parents consider dogs unclean. So miniature horse Cali is being trained to help Mona.” I find it interesting that rather than either try and force her and her parents to accept a dog against their heartfelt beliefs, nor to just exclude and forget about her altogether, the authorities have looked outside the box to come up with a suitable alternative.
Are we always so willing to look outside the normal box or boxes, or do we cling doggedly (unintended pun) to ‘the one size fits all’ solution?
Now I have no idea how feasible/practical a miniature horse will be for her or for others, but at least the people responsible there, are prepared to look outside the normal box and try other possible ideas and sources. Again are we willing to step outside our own comfortable little boxes today?

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