Humanity versus Katie Courage

I know this blog is meant for food blogging, but my heart is broken today. Earlier this afternoon, my daughter Madeleine and I were on our way out to get our nails done and have sushi. As I have mentioned before Madeleine is my sushi buddy and as she's maturing we are becoming really good friends. I think every mother should be blessed with such a wonderful daughter. She has a passion for food just like me and I see so many things in her that remind me of myself. I love it when we spend time together.

On our way, we were sidetracked by a doe that was sitting on the side of the road. A truck was protecting her from oncoming traffic. We looked over and decided we would go back to see if everything was alright. Well, it wasn't. She was hobbling across the street on three legs and the fourth was badly broken. We knew then that she would be put to sleep. We decided to pull to the side and sit with the deer before Animal Control could come to tend to her. It certainly was a very sad situation, but we wanted her to feel loved before she went on to heaven to be with Bambi.

The compassion I felt for that deer was overwhelming and my heart was very sad, but we both knew that we should stay. During that time Madeleine and I unfortunately were met with the realities of humanity and lack of compassion. A man who was on a bicycle decided to stop as well and his first reaction was to get a rock and as he said "bash her in the head." My heart sank to the ground and confronted him and told him not to. He replied with a smart answer which I replied that she should die in peace and let's keep her calm until Animal Control could come and put her down peacefully. He disagreed and was attempting to find a rock and I told him I was calling the police. I am sure he felt he was doing good by putting it out of it's misery but I disagreed.

Our next reality of human nature and lack of compassion was a man who stopped to see if he could help. When he found out it was a deer, he proclaimed, "oh, it's not a human, it's just an animal." My question to him was "what's the difference?" He tried to justify his comment by implying that the animal wasn't important enough to be concerned over. I promptly replied that to me they were one in the same.

My husband was kind enough to come to the scene and stay with the deer as they put her down. I had to leave because I couldn't watch her die. He said it was peaceful and she died with loving people around her. I'm jealous because I know she is in heaven enjoying the presence of the Lord and possibly our dear guinea pigs who have passed away in the last year, Latte, Elvis, Mocha and Butterscotch. I am sure she is grazing in a field full of sun and green grass and flowers and that her leg is completely whole. Madeleine and I named her Katie Courage because she was so courageous today. We love you Katie and we hope you rest in peace.