Hares Don't Make Good Tortoises
Yesterday I was out walking with my daughter when we happened across an injured rabbit. The rabbit stood there in the sidewalk and did not want to run anywhere, despite our English Setter, Coco, pawing at the ground around it. My daughter, 6, was concerned for the rabbit. My dog was straight as an arrow.
Upon closer inspection the rabbit suffered some nasty wound just below its right eye. Perhaps it was a dog or a cat that wounded the rabbit? I told my daughter we should keep going as there is not much we can do for it (at least I thought).
No luck. About twenty feet along, she started bawling. She desperately wanted to help that rabbit. She told me I should put it in my hat, take it home, and let mom put some disinfectant on the rabbit's wound. Her tears convinced me I should give it a try.
"Okay," I said, "You hold Coco's leash, while I do this... I can’t' carry this rabbit and have Coco pulling on the leash at the same time..." She took the leash from my hand.
I walked closer to the rabbit and the poor thing wouldn't budge. It simply stood there with a fairly gruesome laceration under its right eye. I put my hat down and was ready to scoop up the poor creature. That is when a so-called life lesson happened.
Like the jaws of a T-Rex—Coco's large snout entered the picture. The rabbit was snatched from the hat!
My daughter screamed. I was shocked.
Coco had the entire rabbit's head in her mouth. Breaking free of our hold on the leash, Coco bolted across the street, while the rabbit’s body flailed wildly from her mouth. Coco ran in circles and I couldn't catch her. Besides Coco’s safety, I was afraid she was going to bite the rabbit's head off—right in front of my daughter!
Finally, I got hold of Coco's leash and she let go of what was left of that poor lifeless creature. My daughter was in tears.
I was able to console my daughter and explain to her there is a life lesson to be learned here: Nobody did anything wrong. We wanted to help that rabbit. We wanted to do the right thing. Coco was doing what is in her nature. The rabbit is now out of its suffering. And such is the way of the world. She finally calmed down enough that we could complete our walk. Later she seemed to come to grips with the way of things. It made me think if I ever told her the tale about the tortoise and the hare. It probably didn't make much sense now. Though it was left unspoken, there was another lesson she likely learned today: If you don't keep moving in this world, you might get your head bitten off!
