Discuss: Seeing Deer

I also spent years driving country roads and praying that I would do no harm. I, too, would try to direct them away from me with my thoughts. What a poignant, true insight this is! I’d like to share something I wrote called Living in Harmony on my blog at: http://goodwordswan.wildflowerstew.com/category/journal/

What a beautiful article. the intersection of man and nature has never gone well for nature, but it is nice to know that there are men who know enough to know this.

How sad that Craig Childs fails to understand his responsibilities as a driver and a sentient being. In a hurry, he was not driving attentively. After pulverizing the deer, he waffles a little before driving on; his essay might more realistically have been titled “Torturing Deer.”

I consider it doubly tragic that ORION, by paying him for this elegy and printing it without apology, has compounded the error. Drivers reading it are free to assume a well-written essay is payment enough for the damage we do with our vehicles.

Most of the responsible drivers I know carry pistols or sharp knives in part because we know that if we fatally injure an animal, it’s honorable to finish killing it before we get poetic. If this happens to you and you’re unarmed, call the nearest law enforcement agency for help.

How wonderful - this is a beautiful story written with such expessive feelings.  Craig Childs was able to take us to that place visually and emotionally.

A BIG thank you to the writer.

Sensitive, beautiful, just the way every one of us should feel in the presence of Nature’s bountiful creations. I am an artist. I have painted a deer and other animals. Thank you for reminding us of how we could all simply be of this earth with respect and love. Jackie

Linda on high plains wrote on Dec 17th that “Most of the responsible drivers I know carry pistols or sharp knives ... If this happens and you’re unarmed, call the nearest law enforcement agency…”  Well, here in Cincinnati, nobody is allowed to discharge a firearm along the roads - not even the “law enforcement officials.” In fact, when my friend witnessed a deer hit and called the cops, they came out and killed the deer with a hammer - bludgeoning it to death slowly and painfully and to the horrow of a teary crowd, becaue the cops siad they werne’t allowed to use a pistol to kill the deer.  things are different in the city, I’m afraid.

Nice article. It’s unfortunate that humans have thrown off the balance of nature across the globe, and then they proceed to blame the very animals they’ve impacted. Of course, many people live in a constant state of denial and avoidance, seeking only to align themselves with others who have committed the same acts that deep down they know are wrong. This of course, makes them feel right. Most people aren’t even interested in what is right. Their interest is primarily in being right.

Imagine for a moment that animals had the same thought processes as humans. I dare say that it would be difficult to step out our front doors without being taken out. The real bottom line is that wild creatures feel, they may not think like humans do, thankfully for us, but they do feel, they do seem to form bonds with each other. People look around and wonder why there’s so much violence, war, disease and suffering in the world and then in the next moment they commit an act of violence or look the other way when someone else does.

Yes, there is seemingly an over population of deer in many parts of the country but as stated in various posts, this is because so many of the natural predators have been virtually eliminated by man.

Humans live in a constant state of fear, many are not in touch with it because it’s just one more thing to be in denial about. In order to deal with this reality it seems man has developed a mantra. It goes something like this, “I don’t understand you so I must fear you and if I fear you it’s because I can’t control you and thus because I can’t control you I must kill you”. Read the papers, watch the news, mankind does this all over the globe in every walk of life.

Many humans seem to have an odd approach to the concept of help. The concept breaks down like this, “I want to help you, but first I have to kill you”. This sad state of affairs is where we find ourselves today as a species.

I heard a story about the head monk at a Buddhist retreat, he would get out and bow before each dead animal that lay on or near the road when he was driven to the nearest town. I thought about that story when I rode my bicycle through the Pacific Northwest and witnessed all the creatures killed on the asphalt. So, now when I drive and see a dead deer or other animal lying beside the highway, I bow. All life is precious