It is about a 3-tenth of a mile (I know because I own Joe’s hand me down Apple Watch) from our home to the very top of knobby, knotted, rutted, rippled road, complete with the disarray of weeds, rotted pieces of once proud branches, pebbles from places on sailors could once imagination traveling, and serious slivers of sand from the dunes, beaches and property called Cape Cod. I walk the road each and every day, on my way to catch the Shuttle Bus on Route 6A from Truro to Provincetown. The road reminds of one of those special traces of land we used to take our First-year campers at Emma Farm Camp, a place with its own precious and particular stories. By now, this first paragraph speaks of privilege, one some say I have earned or grew old enough to enjoy, or perhaps is a teeny tiny piece of my psyche!
Yesterday, as I trudged up the hill, I saw halfway along the walk, a tiny chipmunk, lying, right between the safety of the left side of the road and the safety of the right side of the road. I stopped. Of course, it had been hit by a vehicle, but there it was between a place he had to go, and perhaps, the safety of his home. I stopped and felt a long, deep crane inside my gut-grabbing at whatever invisible conscious lives there, just trying to pull it from its roots, and sadness of such thickness overcame me. I knew not this chipmunk but did know that within its brief life, there was a purpose, wanting peace, and then danger in finding both. I found some leaves bent over and said to the chipmunk, and my God, I cannot let this innocent creature just lie in the middle of the road. I moved the chipmunk, found a few more branches placed them over its tiniest of body, looked up to the heavens and all around because I believe my God can be everywhere, sobbing like I had never cried before, just said: “rest in peace”.
I am having lots of Trouble Understanding the Ugliness, the Bigotry, the Hate, and the sheer lack of Empathy in the world of Trump. I carry a weight of such political madness deep in my heart, it is frightening. Innocence can be destroyed in minutes, never to be returned or mended, I really hope there is a place in the universe for that tiny chipmunk, who only wanted to survive!
