Contents
Landmarks
Print Page List
This is a work of nonfiction. Nonetheless, some names, identifying details and personal characteristics of the individuals involved have been changed. In addition certain people who appear in these pages are composites of a number of individuals and their experiences.
Copyright 2020 by Glennon Doyle
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by The Dial Press, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.
THE DIAL PRESS is a registered trademark and the colophon is a trademark of Penguin Random House LLC.
Acknowledgment is made to M. Peck Scott (The Road Less Traveled) and William James (The Varieties of Religious Experience) for their presentation of the the unseen order of things.
In addition, acknowledgment and appreciation is expressed to Professor Randall Balmer, whose 2014 Politico article The Real Origins of the Religious Right informed and impacted the Decals chapter of this book.
Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following for permission to reprint previously published material:
Daniel Ladinsky: Dropping Keys adapted from the Hafiz poem by Daniel Ladinsky from The Gift: Poems by Hafiz by Daniel Ladinsky, copyright 1999 by Daniel Ladinsky. Used with permission.
W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.: Five lines from A Secret Life from Landscape at the End of the Century by Stephen Dunn, copyright 1991 by Stephen Dunn. Used with permission of W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Writers House LLC: Excerpt from Letter from a Birmingham Jail by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., published in TheAtlantic.com. This article appears in the special MLK issue print edition with the headline Letter From Birmingham Jail and was published in the August 1963 edition of The Atlantic as The Negro Is Your Brother, copyright 1963 by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and copyright renewed 1991 by Coretta Scott King. Reprinted by arrangement with The Heirs to the Estate of Martin Luther King Jr., c/o Writers House as agents for the proprietor New York, NY.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Doyle, Glennon, 1976 author.
Title: Untamed / Glennon Doyle.
Description: New York : The Dial Press, 2020.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019047945 (print) | LCCN 2019047946 (ebook) | ISBN 9781984801258 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781984801265 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Doyle, Glennon, 1976 | Married womenUnited StatesBiography. | Wambach, Abby, 1980 Family. | LesbiansUnited StatesBiography. | Christian biography.
Classification: LCC CT275.M469125 A3 2020 (print) | LCC CT275.M469125 (ebook) | DDC 306.89/3dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019047945
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019047946
randomhousebooks.com
Cover Design by Lynn Buckley
Cover Illustration Leslie David
ep_prh_5.4_c0_r1
Contents
Two summers ago, my wife and I took our daughters to the zoo. As we walked the grounds, we saw a sign advertising the parks big event: the Cheetah Run. We headed toward the families scouting out their viewing spots and found an empty stretch along the route. Our youngest, Amma, hopped up on my wifes shoulders for a better view.
A peppy blond zookeeper in a khaki vest appeared. She held a megaphone and the leash of a yellow Labrador retriever. I was confused. I dont know much about animals, but if she tried to convince my kids that this dog was a cheetah, I was getting a Cheetah Run refund.
She began, Welcome, everybody! You are about to meet our resident cheetah, Tabitha. Do you think this is Tabitha?
Nooooo! the kids yelled.
This sweet Labrador is Minnie, Tabithas best friend. We introduced them when Tabitha was a baby cheetah, and we raised Minnie alongside Tabitha to help tame her. Whatever Minnie does, Tabitha wants to do.
The zookeeper motioned toward a parked jeep behind her. A pink stuffed bunny was tied to the tailgate with a fraying rope.
She asked, Who has a Labrador at home?
Little hands shot into the air.
Whose Lab loves to play chase?
Mine! the kids shouted.
Well, Minnie loves to chase this bunny! So first, Minnie will do the Cheetah Run while Tabitha watches to remember how its done. Then well count down, Ill open Tabithas cage, and shell take off. At the end of the route, just a hundred meters that way, there will be a delicious steak waiting for Tabitha.
The zookeeper uncovered Tabithas cage and walked Minnie, eager and panting, to the starting line. She signaled to the jeep, and it took off. She released Minnies leash, and we all watched a yellow Lab joyfully chase a dirty pink bunny. The kids applauded earnestly. The adults wiped sweat from their foreheads.
Finally it was time for Tabithas big moment. We counted down in unison: Five, four, three, two, one The zookeeper slid open the cage door, and the bunny took off once again. Tabitha bolted out, laser focused on the bunny, a spotted blur. She crossed the finish line within seconds. The zookeeper whistled and threw her a steak. Tabitha pinned it to the ground with her oven-mitt paws, hunkered down in the dirt, and chewed while the crowd clapped.
I didnt clap. I felt queasy. The taming of Tabitha feltfamiliar.
I watched Tabitha gnawing that steak in the zoo dirt and thought: Day after day this wild animal chases dirty pink bunnies down the well-worn, narrow path they cleared for her. Never looking left or right. Never catching that damn bunny, settling instead for a store-bought steak and the distracted approval of sweaty strangers. Obeying the zookeepers every command, just like Minnie, the Lab shes been trained to believe she is. Unaware that if she remembered her wildnessjust for a momentshe could tear those zookeepers to shreds.
When Tabitha finished her steak, the zookeeper opened a gate that led to a small fenced field. Tabitha walked through and the gate closed behind her. The zookeeper picked up her megaphone again and asked for questions. A young girl, maybe nine years old, raised her hand and asked, Isnt Tabitha sad? Doesnt she miss the wild?
Im sorry, I cant hear you, the zookeeper said. Can you ask that again?
The childs mother said, louder, She wants to know if Tabitha misses the wild.
The zookeeper smiled and said, No. Tabitha was born here. She doesnt know any different. Shes never even seen the wild. This is a good life for Tabitha. Shes much safer here than she would be out in the wild.
While the zookeeper began sharing facts about cheetahs born into captivity, my older daughter, Tish, nudged me and pointed to Tabitha. There, in that field, away from Minnie and the zookeepers, Tabithas posture had changed. Her head was high, and she was stalking the periphery, tracing the boundaries the fence created. Back and forth, back and forth, stopping only to stare somewhere beyond the fence. It was like she was remembering something. She looked regal. And a little scary.
Tish whispered to me, Mommy. She turned wild again.
I nodded at Tish and kept my eyes on Tabitha as she stalked. I wished I could ask her, Whats happening inside you right now?