The Make A Wish Foundation grants special requests to terminally ill children.
Many years ago a 17 year old from Minnesota was dying of a brain tumor. His wish was to hunt a Kodiak bear in Alaska, and it caused a controversy. Animal Rights groups asked the boy to think about the significance of taking a life as part of a dying wish.
Within a moral framework, there isn’t anything a parent would not do for a dying child. Hunting was part of the boy's family culture, so for them the only issue is fulfilling his wish.
There was a time in my life, long ago, when I was a hunter, but an experience in the woods changed me. I had stopped to rest and a flock of chickadees landed in the trees around me. One flew to my shoulder and as I turned to look at her, she never moved, but whistled as we starred at one another, then she flew to the top of my head, whistled again and flew off.
For one brief special moment I was in harmony with all nature. I walked out of the woods, never to hunt again.
I don't remember what happened to the young boy or even if his wish was granted. I remember the story and my wish for him at the time was that he might have a similar experience for there is a profound peace in the acknowledgment of the oneness of all life.
1 comment:
Is it any less humane to go to the grocery store and buy a piece of meat slaughtered for you? At least the wild animals roam free and don't wade in their own feces, fed on things they would never eat, sometimes their own kin. They aren't stuffed with antibiotics, they aren't crowded into small cages in the dark. I've come to believe we would live in a better world if we all killed everything ourselves that we chose to eat. If this came to pass, I'm guessing there would be quite a shift in the American diet.
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