Learning a little about life and death

Isn’t life an astonishing experience, your blogger ponders, offering a thought that of course comes with an obvious answer.

I first witnessed birth as a very young runaway from home, when I watched a Jersey lie down on her side, while new life slid out of her.

One moment there was just the heifer and almost the next, there were two animals, a mother and calf.

No lessons in motherhood had been offered, as far as I could tell.

Magical new arrival

She knew exactly how to clean up her magical new arrival, and when it was clean, how to offer it milk. It was, well, astonishing to witness.

And conversely, I saw my first death. The farmer sat a sheep back onto its hind legs, raised its surprisingly relaxed head, and cut through its jugular.

The encouraging words she offered might be a help to us all when we want to be, when we need to be, encouraging in a situation that frankly seems a little beyond the ultimate negative.

A living creature entrusted itself to the human it had known all its brief life and the next an item for the table remained. It was far from easy to comprehend. Continues on the blogs for my ocean adventuring book, Sailing to Purgatory, at http://sailingtopurgatory.com/index.php/feeds/463-learning-a-little-about-life-and-death