“Way back when,” when I was young,
(yes, I was young at one time), I committed a sacrilege. I took a life. Well,
alright, multiple sacrileges and multiple lives.
However, before you call the Polk
County Sheriff’s Office, I hasten to add that it was not human lives which I
vanquished from the earth. Au Contraire.
No, I regret to say that with the
assistance of my trusty BB gun, I am responsible for the deaths of several
mourning doves, one squirrel, and one rabbit.
Oh, the humanity! (I mean fauna).
I honestly didn’t think anything of it
at the time, but it is amazing the real (or perceived) feelings of guilt which
overwhelmed me yesterday, as I reflected on those regrettable circumstances. (To
be fair, I always devoured the creatures which died at the muzzle of my BB gun).
I know by now all you avid hunters out
there are laughing your arses off. And in between your hee’s and haw’s, you’re
saying, “Give me a break!” (or) “You gotta be kidding me!” (or) “What a fool!”
I’ve just never possessed the desire
or propensity to wipe out anything bigger than a rabbit; (and only then, as an
adolescent). And, I guess I never will; (unless the human race is inundated by
a zombie apocalypse).
However, I think I must be doing
penance in my old age, as if I am somehow making it up to all of God’s four-footed
creatures. (Not unlike Captain Eddie Rickenbacker in a previous story, I suppose).
For you see, in my sunset years I have
rescued a couple of vagabond dogs, and a stray cat, and provided them homes in
which to live, and move and have their being.
And in my quest to satisfy the
requirements of the (animal) law, I have gone out of my way to quench the
thirst of the homeless canines, and felines, and squirrels and rabbits and
mourning doves among us.
Why, just yesterday I watched,
enthralled, as a visiting squirrel pitter-pattered his way across my flower
garden, and jumped up on my little ornamental pool, and bent his head to drink;
not once, but again, (and yet again).
I’m beginning to feel better, thank
you.
By William McDonald, PhD. Excerpt from "(Mc)Donald's Daily Diary" Vol. 81. Copyright pending
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