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Getting soft
Feb. 10th, 2009 03:03 pmA few months or more back, there was a baby bird that'd fallen out of its nest and down into one of the aisles at the barn. It was in bad shape and really, the best thing to do for it was to kill it and end its suffering. I couldn't bring myself to do it. I dunno why. I've done that kind of thing in the past. It's not pleasant, but better than letting a critter suffer when there's no real chance of it surviving.
So today, I'm workin away at my desk, trying to deal with tons of stress, deadlines, and frustrations, when an annoying little buzzing gets my attention. It's a fly in the office that's buzzing and bumping against the window. Now normally, I'd think nothing of finding something with which to squash the thing. Heck, as stressy as the day has been, I'd expect myself to do it without even thinking twice and feel some satisfaction in it.
But for whatever reason, I kinda started to feel sorry for the little guy, banging up against the glass in an effort to get outside. I ended up trapping him under a cup, slipping some paper under it to keep him in there, and letting him loose in a vacant office. I found myself surprised that I went to that much effort to get rid of a pest instead of just killing it. Even worse, a few minutes ago, I found that I was feeling kind of guilty for not helping the dumb bug out of its situation by letting it go outside.
I can just imagine the reactions from anyone I passed by if I'd walked all the way down the hall, badged out, rode the elevator down, and gone out past the security officers with a plastic cup and piece of paper to let a fly go outside.
I'm just getting too soft as I get older.
So today, I'm workin away at my desk, trying to deal with tons of stress, deadlines, and frustrations, when an annoying little buzzing gets my attention. It's a fly in the office that's buzzing and bumping against the window. Now normally, I'd think nothing of finding something with which to squash the thing. Heck, as stressy as the day has been, I'd expect myself to do it without even thinking twice and feel some satisfaction in it.
But for whatever reason, I kinda started to feel sorry for the little guy, banging up against the glass in an effort to get outside. I ended up trapping him under a cup, slipping some paper under it to keep him in there, and letting him loose in a vacant office. I found myself surprised that I went to that much effort to get rid of a pest instead of just killing it. Even worse, a few minutes ago, I found that I was feeling kind of guilty for not helping the dumb bug out of its situation by letting it go outside.
I can just imagine the reactions from anyone I passed by if I'd walked all the way down the hall, badged out, rode the elevator down, and gone out past the security officers with a plastic cup and piece of paper to let a fly go outside.
I'm just getting too soft as I get older.