As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly (Proverbs 26:11).

What is it with dogs?  I mean, seriously... How can a creature possibly enjoy eating its own poop or vomit?  Or pawing through the garbage?  Or licking the anus of another member of its species (or any other species, for that matter)?  Anyone who has ever taken a dog for a walk around the block has pondered this same mystery... And while we can try to tell ourselves that it's all about the heightened sense of smell or territoriality or whatever -- it's still disturbing to observe.  We say to ourselves -- and often to our canine companions -- "How can you really expect that to work out for you a second time, if it didn't agree with you the first time?"

But we do the same things all the time.

For instance, I've noticed that I often respond to loneliness by going to sit alone at the computer.  I know it sounds ridiculous, but it's true.  I obsessively check my e-mail inbox -- thinking that even though it's mostly bland, read-and-file type stuff, at least there's some level of human interaction there.  People seeking me out, reaching out.  Hey, sometimes they even ask a rhetorical "How are you?"  So I hit the Send/Receive button every five minutes, even though this is not going to help anyone in any way.  It's pitiful, I know.  But this knowledge isn't enough to stop me from doing it.  In fact, instead of waking up to the sad reality of trying to remedy my loneliness through a solitary session at the computer, when the e-mails just aren't coming any more, I continue the process further by opening my internet browser -- whose automatic home page is the "Latest Comments" section of my blog.  More often than not, this process offers a fresh reminder that no one is making any comments on my writing.  I go days and even weeks between comments sometimes, and even these are always from the same 3 or 4 people.  After checking for new comments, I go and check the statistics for my blog -- pathetically pleased if I get more than 100 hits in a day.  Readership ebbs and flows.  No one really seems to care that much, aside from myself, obviously, which makes me feel like a pitiful, narcissistic fool.  It's the same story, really, when I check my Facebook, LinkedIn, Flickr, and YouTube pages.  I scramble around the internet like a squirrel, hunting for nuts that just aren't there any more.  But I just can't stop myself.  When I feel lonely, I keep running around and around in these circles which do nothing to improve my actual situation.

Basically, I'm being just like a dog returning to its vomit:  a fool repeating his folly.

Of course it makes more sense that a dog should enjoy a nice, fresh bowl of Kibbles 'n Bits, more than a nasty grassy pile of vomit.  Of course it makes more sense that a lonely person should enjoy real, face-to-face interaction with another friend or seek comfort in the arms of an everpresent God -- more than a lonely romp through the emptiness of cyberspace.  But when we're stuck in the cycles of folly, we have a hard time seeing things logically.  This is why it's so important to remain connected to God -- who can tug at our leash, when we're straining our necks towards the nasty stuff and tell us, "Come now.  How can you really expect that to work out for you a second time, if it didn't agree with you the first time?  Let's go home, boy."