Context is important.
I killed a kids pet rabbit yesterday. It had been hit by a car, its not like I just woke up this morning with the urge to murder kids pets. The kid lives down the street from me and I saw him sitting in the middle of the road crying over the mangled form of his rabbit. I told him his rabbit couldnt be fixed and that it was in pain and the nicest thing to do was to stop the pain. I told the kid to go into his house and that Id take care of his rabbit. Turns out that was a bad turn of phrase.
About an hour later, after dropping Thumper in the nearest bin, I hear a knock on the door. Its the kid from down the road and he asks with disgustingly big, sweet, teary eyes, Do you have my rabbit?
Gilding the truth slightly, I told him Id buried his rabbit. The kid went spastic. He screamed, yelled and floundered about for a moment. I was a little surprised and confused until he wailed, You said youd take care of him!
What followed was a lengthy movie-of-the-week explanation about the cycle of life and death. We sat on the curb for about forty minutes as I explained how some things only live a short time, some a long time and how death was nothing to be scared of. That it was as natural an occurrence as waking up or going to sleep. He was still feeling the loss of his rabbit so I told him that some people believe in reincarnation. That when something dies it is reborn, perhaps in a different form, this way nothing ever truly dies. He seemed to like that and said that he really wanted a dog but his parents had bought him the rabbit instead. He brightened up some and said maybe his rabbit would come back as a dog. I concluded the hallmark moment and told him to run off home and tell his parents whatd happened.
The nagging thought in my head.
Trying to sleep last night all I could think of was the contextual misunderstanding of Ill take care of your rabbit. Then I started to think about what Id said death being a natural part of life and how sometimes its necessary to kill something. Then I thought of what Id said about reincarnation and how he seemed almost excited at the prospect of his rabbit coming back as a dog
What if the next pet his parents buy him is not a dog, but a cat? Is he going to strangle the cat and hope it comes back as a dog? Whats going to happen when he wants a little brother, but gets a sister?
Im not talking to kids anymore..
I killed a kids pet rabbit yesterday. It had been hit by a car, its not like I just woke up this morning with the urge to murder kids pets. The kid lives down the street from me and I saw him sitting in the middle of the road crying over the mangled form of his rabbit. I told him his rabbit couldnt be fixed and that it was in pain and the nicest thing to do was to stop the pain. I told the kid to go into his house and that Id take care of his rabbit. Turns out that was a bad turn of phrase.
About an hour later, after dropping Thumper in the nearest bin, I hear a knock on the door. Its the kid from down the road and he asks with disgustingly big, sweet, teary eyes, Do you have my rabbit?
Gilding the truth slightly, I told him Id buried his rabbit. The kid went spastic. He screamed, yelled and floundered about for a moment. I was a little surprised and confused until he wailed, You said youd take care of him!
What followed was a lengthy movie-of-the-week explanation about the cycle of life and death. We sat on the curb for about forty minutes as I explained how some things only live a short time, some a long time and how death was nothing to be scared of. That it was as natural an occurrence as waking up or going to sleep. He was still feeling the loss of his rabbit so I told him that some people believe in reincarnation. That when something dies it is reborn, perhaps in a different form, this way nothing ever truly dies. He seemed to like that and said that he really wanted a dog but his parents had bought him the rabbit instead. He brightened up some and said maybe his rabbit would come back as a dog. I concluded the hallmark moment and told him to run off home and tell his parents whatd happened.
The nagging thought in my head.
Trying to sleep last night all I could think of was the contextual misunderstanding of Ill take care of your rabbit. Then I started to think about what Id said death being a natural part of life and how sometimes its necessary to kill something. Then I thought of what Id said about reincarnation and how he seemed almost excited at the prospect of his rabbit coming back as a dog
What if the next pet his parents buy him is not a dog, but a cat? Is he going to strangle the cat and hope it comes back as a dog? Whats going to happen when he wants a little brother, but gets a sister?
Im not talking to kids anymore..
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Man, what would I do without emoticons!
I got Lovemyway to read your journal and he agrees that you are very talented. That is saying a lot too because he thinks almost everyone sucks.