All creatures large and small

I had a very humbling experience yesterday that has really been weighing on my soul and instantly made me look deep and hard into my own being.

When I got home from work yesterday I began my usual ritual of suiting up my dog and take him for a walk around the neighborhood.

It was a brisk fall afternoon yesterday at 5:30pm so I quickened my pace up a bit to try and get home a bit faster than usual and get my blood circulating a bit.

On the round trip back home from our usual route, I happened to look down and saw what I thought was a dead rat. Like most people, I conjured up images of filthy vermin...disease carriers...gross and dirty and icky. And I thought it was dead.

Upon closer examination, the rat was not dead, but close to dying. I saw no physical trauma from a spring trap or cat, and figured it was most likely poisoned or near the end of its natural life. It was laying on its side, prone, but I did see its chest rising and falling very slowly, clearly its breathing being labored and I knew it was just a matter of time.

But then I began to wonder how long was this rat had been lying here. Minutes? Hours? Half a day? And how much longer did it have left? Would it make it through the night and pass in the cold air? Would a night time cat or carrion bird wander by and finish it off? Was it in pain?

My goodness, all these questions just bombarded me in mere seconds and I really struggled as to what the right thing to do was. Do I kill it and end its suffering? Or do I let nature take its course? I eventually decided to let nature take its course, for I just couldn't bring my self to stomp on it and its life. I felt bad for it because perhaps this creature, a creation of God, was indeed in pain and suffering from a lingering poison or other ailment. I doubt it would survive the night and for the first time I saw this vermin in a different light.

It was no longer a disease carrying rodent who lived on trash and could cause no good. It was a living and breathing animal, who had made this greenbelt its home...doing only what it was preprogrammed to do from creation. Whether or not it has a 'soul' as we biblically define what a soul should be, it was born and lived and tried to survive. And here I was with my dog, whom I love dearly, walking back to my warm home and will eentually crawl into my clean and warm bed. It really bothered me...and as you can tell...still does.

Someday I will have to put my dog down, and I fear and loathe that future date. I know I will need medication of the highest order that day. And again, I thought of my own mortality....will I die alone with no kids and wife by my side?

I can only hope that God does indeed have a plan for all his creation...including rats.