More thoughts from the road

I was playing Road Warrior today again and on my way home I was able to engage in a little more sight seeing than my trip this morning at 0600.  I noticed many things during this drive and one was the fact that everything looked soooooo brown.  Dead brown with little lumps of dirty off-white snow and an occasional mound of dark fur.  I also had the pleasure of watching a red tailed hawk do some hunting in a harvested wheat field skimming just above the ground.  Made me think of Mother Nature and the circle of life.

If you really want to think about it, Mother Nature is a cruel bitch, to say the least.  I know we all have at one point or another watched a Disney documentary of animals in their natural environments, including hunting.  What they don't show you is that the prey from that hunt is very seldom killed instantly and they die a painful and tortured death.  Think about the lions in Africa and how they bring their prey down and proceed to go for the guts while you can still hear some faint bleating.  Ok, so I'm in a morbid mood.

I also caught sight of a very lean coyote limping along a fence line.  That is what really got me thinking of this.  You don't see coyotes very often as you drive down the highway unless they decide to cross in front of you.  But, this one had a definite limp and you just know that it won't be able to hunt for survival.  Again, another slow and painful death.  Mother Nature at her best.  Clear out the weak so the strong can survive.  The circle of life.

But, at the same time, given the choice to end the life of a suffering animal with a blow to the head and I couldn't do it.  I avoid hitting animals on the road as much as possible, even mice.  I just can't do it.  I hated making decisions to end the lives of the animals in my care even though I knew deep down in my heart it was the right thing to do.  (I did).  I don't fear death, I just don't want to be the cause.

Ok, I'm off to play some COD4.  How is that for irony?

Would you rather
Discover space aliens that are superior to ourselves
Or
Inferior?

Keep on Go!