What would you do?
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Many years ago I had the God awful experience of running down a cat. I was in the car with a colleauge when it happened and I immediately pulled in to the side to run back and face one of my worst fears. The cat lying still on the road. I felt SO distraught - no words can possibly describe it.
Maybe it was willingness to face the fear that did it, but it seemed that out of nowhere a woman (God bless her!!) came to help. She had enough presence of mind to get the cat into the side (where it started wriggling), wrapped it up in a blanket and told me that she would drive it to the vet. I asked for her phone number so that I could call her later to hear how it'd gone and pay any outstanding vet bill. It turned out that on her way she had pulled in to a gas station to check on the state of the cat. At first it was lying real still and she thought it was finished but suddenly it'd leapt boisterously out of the car. She searched for the cat but it was nowhere to be found. The cat was in my prayers for ages, wishing and hoping that some miracle would have happened and it was fine and had found it's way home.
Upon returning to my colleague waiting in the car who'd witnessed the whole thing, she said: "I can't believe you had it in you to go back to the cat". Well... there is no way I could imagine being responsible for hurting an animal and leave it to suffer. I don't get it when I see animals lying on the road abandorned. First of all out of respect for the animal and secondly because you never know whether it's dead or alive. I once saw an article with a picture that left an indible imprint in my memory. It was the picture of a cat that had been run over and so badly injured that it was unable to move. It wasn't dead and therefore lay for hours on a rainy morning in the rush-hour and suffered repetitively being splattered with rainy mud. At some point someone must have contacted the person from the sanctuary who wrote the article and who'd (out of outrage) taken the photo to tell the story with a plea for humans to do the responsible thing. Well for me at least it had such an impact.
I tell these stories hoping it might effect someone out there to also do the resposible thing.
Maybe it was willingness to face the fear that did it, but it seemed that out of nowhere a woman (God bless her!!) came to help. She had enough presence of mind to get the cat into the side (where it started wriggling), wrapped it up in a blanket and told me that she would drive it to the vet. I asked for her phone number so that I could call her later to hear how it'd gone and pay any outstanding vet bill. It turned out that on her way she had pulled in to a gas station to check on the state of the cat. At first it was lying real still and she thought it was finished but suddenly it'd leapt boisterously out of the car. She searched for the cat but it was nowhere to be found. The cat was in my prayers for ages, wishing and hoping that some miracle would have happened and it was fine and had found it's way home.
Upon returning to my colleague waiting in the car who'd witnessed the whole thing, she said: "I can't believe you had it in you to go back to the cat". Well... there is no way I could imagine being responsible for hurting an animal and leave it to suffer. I don't get it when I see animals lying on the road abandorned. First of all out of respect for the animal and secondly because you never know whether it's dead or alive. I once saw an article with a picture that left an indible imprint in my memory. It was the picture of a cat that had been run over and so badly injured that it was unable to move. It wasn't dead and therefore lay for hours on a rainy morning in the rush-hour and suffered repetitively being splattered with rainy mud. At some point someone must have contacted the person from the sanctuary who wrote the article and who'd (out of outrage) taken the photo to tell the story with a plea for humans to do the responsible thing. Well for me at least it had such an impact.
I tell these stories hoping it might effect someone out there to also do the resposible thing.
Comments
I once had a dog of mine run over by a car in front of our house and I wished I would have been there with her at least the last time she had her eyes opened, my mom was! (just thinking about it makes my eyes tear).
But if you were to hit a person on the road maybe because it was your fault or theirs, you would do something to help them out or at least make sure that they are o.k, then why not do the same for an animal that probably didn't even see it coming.
I think in life if we are able to show empathy and care for animals it means that part of our soul is intact...
So sorry to hear about your dog, but pleased that at least your mother was able to be with it in its last moments.
Yes, you are absolutely right, whether it's a human or an animal, it's the decent human response to check the person (little or big) is o.k.
And also I agree that contributes to an intact soul. I believe all our conscious choices builds and strengthens our higher parts as long as our choices comes out of a compassionate intent.