Man’s best friend

[fabianfred]

A man and his dog were walking along a road. The
man was enjoying the scenery, when it suddenly occurred to
him that he was dead.
He remembered dying, and that the dog walking
beside him had been dead for years. He wondered where the
road was leading them.
After a while, they came to a high, white stone wall
along one side of the road. It looked like fine marble. At
the top of a long hill, it was broken by a tall arch that glowed
in the sunlight.
When he was standing before it he saw a magnificent
gate in the arch that looked like mother-of-pearl, and the
street that led to the gate looked like pure gold. He and the
dog walked toward the gate, and as he got closer, he saw
a man at a desk to one side.
When he was close enough, he called out, “Excuse me,
where are we?”
“This is Heaven, sir,” the man answered.
“Wow! Would you happen to have some water?”
the man asked.
“Of course, sir. Come right in, and I’ll have some ice
water brought right up.”
The man gestured, and the gate began to open.
“Can my friend,” gesturing toward his dog, “come in,
too?” the traveler asked.
“I’m sorry, sir, we don’t accept pets here.”
The man thought a moment and then turned back
toward the road and continued the way he had been going
with his dog.
After another long walk, and at the top of another
long hill, he came to a dirt road leading through a farm gate
that looked as if it had never been closed. There was no fence.
As he approached the gate, he saw a man inside,
leaning against a tree and reading a book.
“Excuse me!” he called to the man. “Do you have
any water?”
“Yeah, sure, there’s a pump over there, come on in.”
“How about my friend here?” the traveler gestured
to the dog.
“There should be a bowl by the pump.”
They went through the gate, and sure enough, there
was an old-fashioned hand pump with a bowl beside it. The
traveler filled the water bowl and took a long drink himself,
then he gave some to the dog. When they were full, he and
the dog walked back toward the man who was standing by
the tree.
“What do you call this place?” the traveler asked.
“This is Heaven,” he answered.
“Well, that’s confusing,” the traveler said. “The man
down the road said that was Heaven, too.”
“Oh, you mean the place with the golden street
and pearly gates? Nope. That’s Hell.”
“Doesn’t it make you mad for them to use your name
like that?”
“No, we’re just happy that they screen out the folks
who would leave their best friends behind.”

[AdvaitaJ]

[bodom]

Hopefully no controversy over this one.

[Rui Sousa]

[Terasi]

oh I got an e-mail from an evangelist Christian friend with the exact same story.

[Dhammanucara]

[Tex]

[BubbaBuddhist]

Heh, that was a Twilight Zone episode "The Hunt." One of the really good ones. The punchline was. "It wouldn't be Heaven without dogs." I guess cats rule the other place..."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sejMCBPQ7qg&feature=related