Alien Encounters

I'm not sure why, but sometimes I feel like people don't take meat as seriously as they should. I guess sometimes I don't either, but its from a living breathing animal. Lately I've had a lot on my mind with animals. Every day I drive by a farm full of cows that are bred for food, or I see animals dead on the side of the road victims of speed limit and country roads. My neighbors and friends hunt. Its overwhelming. Its also not fair, when you think of it. I would never tell/lecture people about what they should eat, but meat should be more important. It was such a sacrifice. People should pay more then a dollar for a hamburger. It would be nice to see people slow down by our house, I mean how hard is it to take two seconds to let a innocent furry friend pass by? I keep telling myself that they all go to a better place, where ever that place may be. Somewhere golden and shiny. I just hope that they aren't in misery, whatever takes their life.

The other day I was enjoying a beautiful run at Lake Elmo. I get out there every once in a while as the sun is setting, which these days is around 5 o'clock. Its as soon as all the trees and tall grasses turn to a dark outline, leaving only brightly colored hues of the sunset. Almost as if you are in a paper cut. The past few times I've seen a few deer scamper and this time I saw one up a head of me. We were about a block away and we both stopped and looked at each other for a second. Its that initial second of shock or fear of the new and unknown. You know that feeling, when you encounter something you have never seen before. I usually get this feeling in my stomach when I encounter an animal in the wild unexpectedly. I imagine its what it would feel like when you meet an alien. The deer turned and started running towards me, as if it were a friend that I haven't seen in a long time spotted me across the room and darted towards me for a hug. I could feel that warm excited feeling rise up and boil in my blood. A smile spread across my face. I have always wanted to pet a deer in the wild, it has always been a dream of mine. A year ago I bought a packet of old pictures for an art project and there in the stack was a black and white picture of a woman who looks like me feeding a deer popcorn. Its my favorite that I have on my wall. About less then half a block away the deer stops again, realizing that I am not what it must of thought, and darted off into the woods, looking ever so often to make sure I was far far away. I stopped and slouched over, sadden. I know that this is a relationship that can never be in reality. It ran away from me as it should, since it should know that humans are not kind, even though some really are. It still doesn't stop the yearning for the friendship, the loneliness that sets in.

Today I cleaned a house that was infested with lice on Monday. I have to now go home and make sure that I clean and disinfect everything I brought with me for the day. Its a huge bummer. I wish they would have rescheduled their clean until they knew it was all gone. It made me think of the most important lesson, one of which I hope drives home from reading this blog. Please think of other people, no matter how busy or hectic your life gets. Also think about all living things, and do the best for everybody. Its why you are here!