Yes, sometimes the small things in our lives can give us the chance to consider some of the biggest things. I had an opportunity to save the life of a creature today, and so that is what I did. I saved the life of a mouse that had fallen into our swimming pool, and couldn’t get out.
I know what would have happened to that mouse, if I hadn’t seen it, and saved it – It would have got tired from having to swim to save itself, and eventually drown. But I saw it there, and saved it.
Then I had a think about it all, because it felt important. You see, we set traps in our kitchen and other places inside our house, so we don’t get overrun by mice, and suffer from getting them into our food, potentially causing food poisoning.
And that little mouse in the swimming pool, had a sweet little face, just the same as the mice that get caught and killed in our mousetraps … I wrote a bit about it on one of my other blogs, here: https://carolyncordonwriter.wordpress.com/2022/01/09/from-mouses-in-the-house-to-fool-in-the-pool/
Life and death, and Nature, big things in life for sure, and I know I am not God, so what right do I have to take the life of another creature? A fine question, and one I thought about when I decided to grab that little mouse swimming in the pool by the tail, and take it out of the water, then set it free.
I did so, hoping it scurries off well away from both the pool, and our house. But knowing that a tiny mouse could well be taken by one of the predator birds around our place, or one of the cats that prowl around our property … This little mouse has had a chance to live a little longer, and not die a long and painful death, constantly swimming, as it gets more and more tired, and finally drowning.
A quick death from a Crow, or Magpie would be a kinder death, and the mouse may actually go on to mate and bring children into the world, because I saved its life. Or it may get into our house and die in a mouse trap. Such is life, and such is death …
I feel I have given that mouse due care, and my heart and mind are at ease with my actions today. A life saved and considered in some depth, when there are so many people dying at the moment from Covid. I can mask up, get vaccinated, and wash my hands to make things as safe as possible for myself and others, and that is the most I can do to help prevent those deaths, that’s all.
But I had the chance to save a creature, and I did it. As I wrote in that other blog post about it, I am at peace with myself about this. It felt like the best course of action to choose.
A small thing, but bigger things actually … Life and Death.
My Stoic Life 