ANOTHER RAINY DAY

I remember a few years ago when I used to come out to the park in the rain, barely seeing a turtle swimming in the creek. I wanted it to hurry and get where it was going because it was getting pelted by the raindrops. But altho' I could see his neck stre-e-e-tch forward, his shell and legs never followed. It took me a while. I swallowed, and realized I was seeing a swimming snake. This is from my journal in '22:

At first, my blood froze. But then I stopped myself. Just moments earlier, when I thought I was looking at a turtle, I had felt a smile warming my heart; was it right that the word "snake" changed all that? The critter didn't choose to be born, not a turtle, but a snake to be despised, did he? He's not given even one chance. Besides, the smooth head of the non-venomous snake, with its round eyes, looked very much like a turtle.

It took me a good bit of time, but little by little, I found myself changing in the way I thought about snakes. What made me look more carefully was seeing how ostracized these creatures can be, not just by humans, but by other animals too. Did you know they jump when they see snakes nearby? To their credit, they can tell the peaceful ones apart from the dangerous vipers, and they adapt their behavior accordingly.

But with human beings, alas, many will KILL snakes on the spot and THEN check if they are poisonous or not--they are treated all the same, (Humans can't make quick, accurate distinctions without risking getting badly bitten,)

That's why, if I ever find a snake in the wild, I know it wants to come out of hiding and enjoy living with everybody else. "But we humans kill snakes!" I find myself sadly saying; "Be good, and stay out of sight, okay?" Maybe it can go swimming on a rainy day when people will mistake him for a turtle.

I just realized: I'd cut off the lower half of the journal since I'd already blogged about it, but maybe I should've left it there for Mother's Day. Would you look at it again? (It was posted July 26, '23; this is the original sketch.)