I have one quick story before I get into the rest of my day...
Last night I planned to rehearse with a pianist for today's solo class (I'll be playing Dvorak's Song to the Moon, one of my favorites from this summer at AIMS), and after a 3+ hours long ethnomusicology meeting followed by a hastily gobbled dinner at the student union, felt I needed to catch my bearings a bit before attempting to "sing" on the horn. I found a nice spot of grass on a hill overlooking the lake, laid down, and spent 15 blissful minutes watching the clouds go by.
When my time was up I stood and stretched...ah! Much better...and then headed back over the hill towards the music building.
On the way I noticed a lady standing on the opposite side of the hill laughing hysterically and following something with her digital camera. Curious, I took a moment to see what she was filming. My heart broke when I saw a poor little squirrel running around frantically, turning cartwheels, leaping sideways, and trying desperately to shake a yoplait yogurt cup off its head. The squirrel suddenly bounded in my direction, landed on the pavement directly in front of me with a nauseating "thunk," and froze. His breathing was heavy and frantic and his limbs were splayed in all directions; it was as though he landed at my feet to beg, "help me!"
I slowly bent down--trying not to make any noise that might startle the terrified creature and send him flailing away again--grabbed the base of the yogurt cup, and pulled gently. It slid off the squirrel's head with only a little resistance leaving a wake of milky strawberry slime all over its fur. With the cup removed, he remained frozen for a fraction of a second more before darting away into the safety of a nearby tree.
None of the other onlookers said anything to me, just turned off their cameras and went their separate ways.
On the one hand, I could see how the scene had been humorous...at least at first...but I also felt angry that no one else had stepped in to help the poor animal before I did. We humans can be so cruel and heartless at times...laughing at another creature's pain, finding amusement in the disgusting gore of another's life-and-death predicament. What is it that makes us so attracted to suffering? I don't know how to answer that question. Frankly, it just makes me sick.
This morning I googled "squirrel stuck in yogurt cup" to see what came up. "Maybe that lady posted her video somewhere," I thought. I was only a little surprised to discover this story (along with a bunch of others) instead. It was heartening to see another happy ending. Maybe there's hope for our species after all.
He could sense your sympathetic spirit and came to you for the help he knew he could only get from you. That sunrise is in the top 10! Maybe even THE #1 .
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