Dig this and tell me what you think.
On my ride home from work last night two deer crossed my path in separate instances. Blew my mind. When was the last time that happened to you TWICE in one night? I doubt that has ever happened to me before.
The first one was on 202 and that was the one that worried me the most. He came out of the woods on the passenger side of the car and pranced out in front of me. I had to swerve right for him to get by me without hitting him. There was a car approaching in the other direction but the deer made it safely into the woods. The speed limit is 55 and most of us exceed that.
Five minutes later as I thought about that, I turned onto a typical country side road and another deer made an appearance. From my left, in front of me into the woods. I had to tap my brakes to avoid him. I am a spiritual man and always looking for meaning in certain circumstances. If it had been two porcupines or two aardvarks I would not have given it a second thought. But deer are beautiful, magical, graceful, majestic animals and I associate them with spirituality.
Maybe it was a sign from above that I am about to be rewarded, that I am doing the right things and my Joe-vibration is FINALLY in harmony with the universe. More likely it was a sign that man has encroached upon and upset the balance of the deers' world.
What would make a deer run across 202? They are intelligent and intuitive animals; they sense danger and know they are no match for the man-made killing machines on wheels.
They were both probably trying to find a better place to hide from the hunters who will be out to kill them today.
I don't dig hunting. Especially the way the white man goes about it. I understand that there is an argument to be made for it, the thinning of the herd thing, and maybe I could be convinced that that makes sense. But what it boils down to for me is that if I came face to face with a deer I could not kill it. Could not even come close. The fact that a hunter can pull the trigger tells me that there is a fundamental difference between us that disturbs me. These guys are not killing for survival, they are killing for sport. They can look at pure beauty and grace and put a bullet in its brain.
Hunting to Indians was a sacred ritual and they WERE hunting for survival. They could have done it coldly and moved on. Instead there were rituals to be followed and prayers to be said after the kill. Carol and I visited the Indian Museum in Warner recently and I read a post hunting prayer that moved me. I wish I had written it down because I cannot find it online. I found one with similar sentiments and I will paraphrase: "I have killed the deer, the grasshopper and the plants they feed upon, I have taken fish from the water and birds from the sky, in my life I have needed death so my life can be, when I die I must give life to what has nourished me." Indians understood that we are one with the animals, and that taking an animal's life disturbs the balance and that the balance must one day be restored.
In fairness to the white man, a hunter came into The Booze Emporium recently after a failed day in the woods. He had been hunting all his life and he spoke about deer reverently and with respect, commenting on their intelligence and grace. I liked his attitude but could not reconcile that with his ultimate goal.
Two points have to be made here. First, I established a spiritual connection with those two deer last night, and if they get killed in cold blood I will know it. I will hunt you down, deal to you the same fate and proudly display you on my dinner table on Thanksgiving.
Secondly and selfishly. I truly hope there was something spiritual, a message from those beautiful, mystical creatures directly to me. I have to believe in something. I need inspiration to keep me going at this pace. I am trying to become one with myself and one with the universe. Ain't no human gonna show me how to do that.
I need beauty, grace, intelligence and purity. I brushed up against that last night and it kissed my soul.
No comments:
Post a Comment