I don't like things to be killed.

(photo by iamdogsmom)

I understand that if everything didn't die, then the world would be over populated in every way with bugs crawling over everything, oceans thick with fish, people and animals stomping out every single thing. And not only that but in order for every species to survive, others have to die. so, i know this.

I've just found myself lately, really saddened over dead things. On our way to Jackson Hole, we hit a bird. He got stuck under the hood of the car, actually, and we drove him a few hundred miles through Idaho and Wyoming and Landon had to literally peel him from underneath the hood. It made me extremely sad. That bird shouldn't have died by getting hit by our car.

We were riding in a huge school bus on our way to reach our raft to ride down the Snake River. I was sitting next to the window in the very last seat on the bus and as we drove up the winding road beside the river, the sun shone  through the trees onto my window and brought my attention to a shimmer on the glass. Someone had smashed a bug there and the wings had been dragged across the window in the action. And I wondered why someone would kill a bug just because it is there. Is that a common reaction? I see a bug so i must smash it/stomp on it/kill it? I understand killing things that threaten your own life or safety. I smashed a mosquito the other day because he was sucking my blood and i am extremely sensitive to mosquito bites, and afterward thought to myself, what a shame. But still, I guess, I killed it.

I think that things should have a chance at life until it is necessary that they be killed. I think that animals and vegetables should be eaten, I think that bears that maul people should be killed ("a fed bear is a dead bear"). Landon has been making fun of me lately for my zen buddhist tendencies, but he still helps me rescue bugs to throw them outside instead of tossing them down the toilet or smashing them in a towel. He's sweet to me.