Duck

This weekend we were driving home and I noticed a duck that looked hurt on the side of the highway.
After a little debate with Dave I decided," We should go back, if its gone by the time we get there then we know its fine."
I've had this love for animals that I inherited from my mom. My mom would always try to save an animal when she could. Even through her compassion and love she is still a farm girl born and raised and animals, well they really only get so far with those people. For example when my mom was a little girl she would drag huge snapping turtles with her friend to town waving a stick in front of the turtle so that it would latch on. Apparently there was good money in selling turtle and she would get a couple bucks from the local store. One time when I was a little girl my mom found a birds nest full of babies that a bird had left behind. You can raise baby birds but its a full time job. You have to feed them every hour for a while. I'm not sure if my mom called anyone, she was a busy single mom who knew that there was no way she could take care of these babies.  Since my brother was the man of the house she asked him to kill the babies, I think to drown them in our pond out back. My brother was only a preteen at the time. It's crazy to think about that now all of the grown up/tough situations my brother was put in at such a young age. He never really complained unless he was in trouble.

When we reached the side of the interstate of our first sighting sure enough there was the duck as we pulled off. Right as we pulled off and rolled up to the duck merely seconds later another car pulls in front of us. Dave and the older woman grabbed the duck who's leg was hurt and offered little resistance. The older woman said she knew where to take our friend so that he could get better and sat him coddled up in a blanket in the backseat. When we pulled away I felt so radiant. I felt a little reassured in people when it comes to animals. Especially since I had just come from my friends house who keeps catching red squirrels in her attack but instead of driving them 10 miles down the road to release them she drowns them in her tub and sticks them in her freezer to taxiderm later. I guess the duck was the same feeling as the snake. It just felt so unbelievable good to see a soul on the journey to a better path. That we had the opportunity to help something smaller and in need. I hope my children will be in love with animals too, and they will see the importance of caring for all the souls around them.