Yesterday my daughter intentionally killed a spider. I found it extremely annoying. Yes, she hates spiders, but this one was not bothering her. It was simply doing its spider thing in our house. We have an old house - built mid-50s or so. It has bugs, like ants and night crawlers and such. Our basement is attached to the garage so I have seen silverfish on occasion when it is humid. Killing the spider was a selfish act. I told her a story - truly make believe. I wanted her to pretend that she was simply going about her business of being a pre-teen. Chatting on the phone and skipping around the detritus on the floor of her room. Some much larger being stepped on her - crushing her world and everything in it, simply because it was afraid of her. I did not yell at her; I did not lecture her, but I wanted her to know that this earth does not belong to us - we belong to it.
This morning I walked around before leaving for work. The guinea pig needed water, the bird that she just had to have needed clean water and food. What no food. I call my responsible daughter on her cell phone. "I guess we are out then" is her casual response. She and her brother will be gone a couple of days - DIVORCE - but I am thinking I might have to just not work on dinner Friday night because ....Those of us who keep pets have a justifiably huge responsibility to those animals. Off my soapbox now!
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