Cat and dog game – an interfaith activity
Preamble
The points of this exercise is to lead students to understand that some questions/
problems have many answers/ solutions and that all are equally correct or true, although
some may be more tasteful, preferable, possible or acceptable than others.
The use of that understanding is to promote tolerance of other people’s opinions
that differ ffrom our own. This is especially valuable in religion in that it enables us to
be firm in our own faith and yet respectful towards other people’s faiths – just because
I know I’m right doesn’t mean that I have to condemn you as wrong. For example: how do
we get to Sydney? Well, depends where we are starting from. In Melbourne, we head
north; but in Brisbane we head south. So, by analogy: a person born and raised in a
Western Christian culture may be better served by faith in Jesus, whereas someone
from Thailand might be better off following a Buddhsit path. Either way, perhaps in
their spiritual search for meaning, truth and salvation, they are each on the right path
given their different individual and cultural starting-points.
Anyway: onto the Cat and Dog game
Small group work (10 minutes)
Problem: How to stop a cat and a dog from fighting?
Instructions: In small groups, have one group member write down what your group
comes up with so we can share them later
Work for 10 minutes on this
Have a student or two draw a cat and a dog on opposite sides of the board
Have each group reporter read out the group’s solutions
Record them on the board in a list between the two pictures
Limited discussion but all solutions are acceptable
A poem for the Journey
Handout: whole poem on a decorated page with a path and journey motif
Read poem aloud
In small groups, take a couplet each and work out examples of ideas in them
Report ideas back to class
Discuss the meaning of the whole poem
On our way, we must learn to take
The rough with the smooth,
the bad with the good,
the ugly with the beautiful,
the old with the young,
the stale with the fresh,
the bitter with the sweet,
the hard with the easy,
the painful with the pleasant,
the tasteless with the tasty,
the sorrowful with the joyful,
the night with the day,
the black with the white,
the rain with the shine,
the wrong with the right,
the blame with the praise,
the low with the high,
the poor with the rich,
the failure with the success,
the loss with the gain,
the defeat with the victory,
for, it we always look for easy ways and short cuts,
eventually, we might find that they are wrong ways.
Some pain and hardship must be expected and endured
if we are to complete our journey
Q. What “Journey” does the title refer to?
Q. What characteristics does it share with a journey?
Q. What’s the relation between things “we must learn to take” with one another?
Q. What’s the potential problem with “easy ways and short cuts”?
Q. What’s the relation between “pain and hardship”?
Q. Why are “pain and hardship” necessary “to complete our journey”?