I was driving today, my daughter in the passenger seat, when we both spotted (almost at the same time) a robin huddled by the side of the road. As I drove by my daughter looked at me and said, "we can't leave it there, we have to go back". When I didn't turn around immediately she became even more insistent, "MOM! We HAVE to go back!"
What I found interesting about this was what went through my head. I heard my mother's voice saying, "that's life...." I remembered my Mom ignoring my pleas to turn around and rescue an animal I saw by the side of the road, and basically telling me I needed to "suck it up" as life was tough, and I wasn't going to make it far if I insisted on bemoaning the fate of every animal that was laying by the side of the road. Let me say that, once I was out on my own, and living my own life, I chose, and continue to choose to stop for animals that I see injured by the side of the road. That doesn't mean that I don't still hear her voice echoing from the past.
So we turned around and went back to pick up the Robin. I watched Jess rush from the car to the side of the injured bird and scoop it up, unhesitatingly, in her arms. Cradling the wounded bird, she came back to the car and gently eased into her seat. We are fortunate to have a wildlife sanctuary just on the other side of town that is open on Sundays, so we headed over there. Jess, immediately started talking about nursing it back to health; possibly keeping it; and this led us to have a conversation about what "quality of life" might look like from the perspective of a wild animal. As much as Jess wanted to domesticate the robin, she understood that, from the robin's point of view, given the life it had known up to that point, the wildlife sanctuary was the best bet.
The woman at the sanctuary was great. She carefully took the bird from Jess and took it back into their injured animal/quarantine area. After a quick assessment of the robin, she indicated that it had probably been hit by a car. There didn't seem to be any broken bones, but that the bird had taken a pretty good hit to the head. She explained that she would give the robin some medication to help with minimizing brain swelling and make sure that the bird was fed and watered, and that it would be about 24 hours before they'd know whether the robin would make it or not. She gave us her name and the number for the center and told us, if we would like to check back, she'd let us know how the bird was doing.
It was great for Jess to see that there are people who care and are willing to go out of their way to actually tackle dealing with the animals that need help. It felt good to, yet once again, follow my own heart instead of my parent's advice. I always think about that story about the hundreds of starfish washed up on the beach and the little boy walking along picking up starfish and throwing them back into the surf, and a man asking the boy why he bothered as there were so many starfish, and the little boy couldn't possibly save them all, and the little boy responded, as he tossed yet one more starfish back into the sea, "it made a difference to that starfish."
As I reflect of what happened today, I am made aware of the impact a parent's outlook can have on the life of their children. Like the little boy with the starfish, I want to make a positive impact on my daughters future. I want to always encourage her to grow and become more than she thinks she is, in the moment, and to stay connected in a very visceral way, to this fragile world in which we live.
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