I have lost all faith in humanity.
Yesterday, as I was walking to the train down W. 10th street, I saw something horrible. Someone had thrown a glue trap, with a live mouse into the street. I stopped, having seen the poor little thing wriggling around. Not only was one of his back legs obviously broken from his struggle, he was so distraught I could see his tiny chest moving so fast from his rapid breathing.
I remembered being younger and having found a mouse stuck to a glue trap in my home. I proceeded to tell my mother she could let him go now. And she explained that that was impossible, if you tried to take a mouse off the glue trap, their tiny little feet would be ripped off. The only thing you can do is kill them, as quickly as possible. This usually means drowning, suffocating (in a plastic bag) or simply smashing them against something.
Now, I'm not saying let mice roam free in your home. (Although, I currently am housing quite a fat mouse in my kitchen.) But if you can't afford to buy the humane traps and insist on using something like a glue trap, the least you could do is put the poor mouse out of its misery and quickly. To just throw it out into the street? What's wrong with you? I couldn't get over it and I was so upset just staring at this tiny mouse, thinking how scared it must be. I called the ASPCA, thinking maybe they could at least advise me of what to do. I even contemplated buying poison to feed it, so it would at least die quickly. The ASPCA did nothing but irritate me with a series of recorded messages. In the end I could do nothing more than put him in a tightly closed plastic bag and hope he would die quickly. I apologized to him (not out loud of course) for whoever it was that had been so cruel to him.
I know it sounds silly, yes mice are pests to a certain extent, but they don't know that. They are just trying to be mice. It reminds me of what a professor once said to me. If we can't even treat animals, who are helpless, with respect-how can we treat each other with respect?
I was really upset over this, so I walked for a bit until I got to the M train at Bowery. I got home and as I am leaving the Fresh Pond station, I see this man standing there saying something to everyone as they walk by. I assumed he was asking for money. But, as I got closer I could hear him saying "Can anyone swipe me on, it's an emergency." He didn't look homeless, he looked like he was maybe not 100% there. But he wasn't being abrasive or rude. And I watched as dozens of people walked right by him. How many of them have unlimiteds? How many of them would lose nothing from taking the 1.5 minutes to swipe the man through? But nobody cared. So I stopped and asked him "Do you need a swipe?" To which he replied, "Yes, it's an emergency." So I swiped him through and walked home.
What's wrong with people. So busy and wrapped up in their oh-so-important lives you can't take a second to make sure another human being is ok?
I'm not saying I am Mother Theresa. But I do take the time to check and make sure that guy on the floor of the subway platform is just drunk and not dead, stupid shit like that. We aren't alone in this world. It would be nice is people remembered that.
I remembered being younger and having found a mouse stuck to a glue trap in my home. I proceeded to tell my mother she could let him go now. And she explained that that was impossible, if you tried to take a mouse off the glue trap, their tiny little feet would be ripped off. The only thing you can do is kill them, as quickly as possible. This usually means drowning, suffocating (in a plastic bag) or simply smashing them against something.
Now, I'm not saying let mice roam free in your home. (Although, I currently am housing quite a fat mouse in my kitchen.) But if you can't afford to buy the humane traps and insist on using something like a glue trap, the least you could do is put the poor mouse out of its misery and quickly. To just throw it out into the street? What's wrong with you? I couldn't get over it and I was so upset just staring at this tiny mouse, thinking how scared it must be. I called the ASPCA, thinking maybe they could at least advise me of what to do. I even contemplated buying poison to feed it, so it would at least die quickly. The ASPCA did nothing but irritate me with a series of recorded messages. In the end I could do nothing more than put him in a tightly closed plastic bag and hope he would die quickly. I apologized to him (not out loud of course) for whoever it was that had been so cruel to him.
I know it sounds silly, yes mice are pests to a certain extent, but they don't know that. They are just trying to be mice. It reminds me of what a professor once said to me. If we can't even treat animals, who are helpless, with respect-how can we treat each other with respect?
I was really upset over this, so I walked for a bit until I got to the M train at Bowery. I got home and as I am leaving the Fresh Pond station, I see this man standing there saying something to everyone as they walk by. I assumed he was asking for money. But, as I got closer I could hear him saying "Can anyone swipe me on, it's an emergency." He didn't look homeless, he looked like he was maybe not 100% there. But he wasn't being abrasive or rude. And I watched as dozens of people walked right by him. How many of them have unlimiteds? How many of them would lose nothing from taking the 1.5 minutes to swipe the man through? But nobody cared. So I stopped and asked him "Do you need a swipe?" To which he replied, "Yes, it's an emergency." So I swiped him through and walked home.
What's wrong with people. So busy and wrapped up in their oh-so-important lives you can't take a second to make sure another human being is ok?
I'm not saying I am Mother Theresa. But I do take the time to check and make sure that guy on the floor of the subway platform is just drunk and not dead, stupid shit like that. We aren't alone in this world. It would be nice is people remembered that.