The Barking Conscience

Wording of this Handout:

---

Once there was an alcoholic who drank himself into loneliness. He did not have a friend in the world. . .except his dog. The dog was old, and mangy, but it faithfully waited on the poor man, in spite of the bad way it was treated.
One night, the alcoholic staggered home and fell onto the living room floor. The faithful old dog, as usual, lay at his master's feet and went to sleep. But that night, a prowler came calling.
The dog woke up and began to bark, to warn his master.
But the drunk old man was so angry at being disturbed that he threw a chair at the dog, and killed it.
Later, when the man woke up properly, he discovered that he had been robbed, and the dog, who had tried to warn him of the danger, was dead. The man had killed his only friend.
Did you know that each of us has a faithful dog, who barks to warn us of danger. That dog is our conscience, and it always tells us when we are doing, or saying, or even thinking, something wrong.