Death of an innocent

Not sure I can write about this, but I need to. I need to acknowledge it and share this hurt, send it out into the world and see if there are any ripples.

Sitting in traffic this morning I saw a small dead animal in the middle of the road. I am a person that becomes deeply distraught when I think too long about the plight of the only true innocents on our planet, the animals, and their suffering at man's hand, so typically the moment that my brain acknowledges that what I see is an animal I look away... If I look elsewhere I won't think about it, if I won't think about it I won't have to deal with it, if I don't have to deal with it then I won't have to do anything about it. But today I could not look away, I stared. I thought at first it was a tiny red fox. As I looked longer into the face and and at the shape of this tiny victim, I realized that it was a very small fawn. Looking down its body and seeing the fragile spindle legs and tiny hooves shocked my mind into recognition.

I almost break down thinking of it. I wondered how it had gotten there, what had happened to its mother. As I thought more I realized that the week before I had noticed an adult deer that had been killed in the same area, its body laying off toward the woods on the side of the road, but unmistakably deceased. I wonder if this tiny fawn was its offspring, staying near its mother until finally, confused and starving, it wandered into the road to be killed.

Sweet sad little life, my heart breaks for you.

<<< 7:10 pm >>>

Driving home I struggle to keep my mind from focusing on where the tragedy happened. Eyes betray me in finding the small, snowy untainted flash of white on this tainted day.

I raise my hand to block the sight and recognize my unwilling tragic salute...

and whisper insufficient prayer for forgiveness of mankind, "one still mourns..."