"The person you're roaring at, insulting, belittling, might not be here tomorrow" Exactly.

[DFW]

14. I don't know if I find it amusing, exactly

Sometimes I feel like I've been invited to a debate, and arrive instead at a cockfight.

There was an old cliché-ridden joke that made the rounds in Washington about 40 years ago.

As the story goes, way out in the desert in some forgotten corner of the Sainai, a Jewish farmer and an Arab farmer were neighbors and best of friends, and all the wars and conflicts had managed to pass them by. Then the next war arrives, and the orders come down to both of them: kill your neighbor and take his farm. Well, these guys have been friend for 60 years, and plan on doing no such thing. So, they're sitting on a porch sipping mint tea, and wondering how they can report back that they've done as ordered without actually doing so.

One of them suddenly says, "hey, how about this? We let our dogs fight, and say whoever had the dog that won, won!" They agree, that while they cherished their dogs, dogs were replaceable, and they could send back photos of a bloody scene that would get them left alone.

A corral is built, and the Arab arrives first with his four year old doberman, who he has "forgotten to feed" for the last three days. Then the Jewish farmer arrives with a sickly-looking animal whose hair has apparently completely fallen out and has short stumpy legs. The Arab looks on with a mixture of pity and sympathy.

The Arab says, "are you sure you want to let that poor thing fight my doberman? He looks old."

The Jewish mans says, "well, he IS old. But he's my only dog. So let him fight."

The Arab farmer sighs with resignation, and assents. The two animals are let into the small corral. They circle each other warily for about ten seconds, the doberman making all sorts of menacing growls. Then they have at it, and there is a blur of flying fur and spraying blood for about twenty seconds. What is left of the doberman is removed from the corral by his Arab owner who is stunned from dismay and disbelief. The Jewish farmer's animal is untouched and still crawling around on his stumpy legs licking the doberman's blood from his lips.

The Arab can't believe it. "You win. My poor doberman is a bloody mess. I can't believe this. What kind of dog is that, anyway?"

The Jewish farmer shrugs, and says, "what can I tell you? He's my nice little dog."

The Arab is no idiot and is having none of the evasion. "WHAT kind of dog is that?"

His neighbor shrugs again, and says, "well, before I had his nose fixed, he was an alligator."