The rabbits seem to have spent the winter months increasing their numbers — and when we built this house 13 (!) years ago, there seemed to be nary a squirrel in sight. Now there are bunnies in the backyard every morning, and bushy-tailed rodents annoy the dogs at least once a day.
The most common animal in these parts, of course, is the swift steel one that runs up and down the ribbons of asphalt on the other side of the house. Each one has a story to tell — places to go, tasks to accomplish, people to please, dreams to fulfill. Their sheer numbers are almost overwhelming — so many destinations, so many things to do, so many dreams. And these are only a fraction of the billions of steel beasts in the world.
It is easy to lose track, in a world of billions, of the special nature of each individual. Each life is precious and unique. The advertising man and the politician may try to reduce the horde to piles of lumps to manipulate, but each living and breathing being has a soul that sees the world in its own unique way, steward of a body that has a finite time to pass through this plane of existence, and it is not for us to hasten its demise if we can avoid it. Rather we are here to share this planet as gently as we can.
Recognizing the value of every living creature brings us to a stronger peace. We do not wish to take life, but we do take life, when we prepare a meal, when we build a house, when we drive through a swarm of lake flies. We should not disrupt lives and habitats lightly, and we should do so, again, as gently as we can.
