it's not just about responsibility

someone hit a dog.
i have run into animals before, but it is usually an unavoidable collision with something small like a frog or a bird, and by the time it is over, so are they. then there is nothing to do except move the carcass out of the road.
which i do.
because i believe it is disrespectful to let the body of something -- as important to this life as i am-- remain in the road to be mutilated by the next fifty cars.

someone hit a dog and left him in the road to die.
i have never done this. i will never do this. i will do all that i can, and if i can do nothing else, i will see that it doesn't suffer.
i will stay there until the end.
because to do anything less is to lose a bit of my humanity.

someone hit a dog and left him in the road to die. but he lived.
so when i came upon him, i did what i do. and it wasn't easy. trying to persuade an injured animal that i am not there to harm it further takes time.
but i did.
until he bit me and i gave up.

someone hit a dog and left him in the road to die. but he lived, and i couldn't stop thinking about it.
so i took a flashlight with me and marched around the neighborhood at two in the morning. i eventually found him huddled in a driveway. and when i checked his tags, i found that he had gone home to die.
i knocked on the door.

this time, it was that simple. and today when the girls and i were out we walked past the house.
and i got a thank you.
for saving a life.