In Memoriam...

This American holiday is supposed to honor those humans who happened to die "in our nation's service." I'll reserve commenting about that here and instead use this post to turn the honoring and remembering to those beings who died because of humans.

This is a good time to remember the billions who die each year to add profit to some group of money hungry humans. This is a good time to remember those killed because some human thinks they "taste good". This is a good time to remember the millions who die each year because some humans can't feel good unless someone innocent is killed by them. This is a good time to remember those beings who die because humans like to be "entertained". This is a good time to remember those who die because humans can't find a home for them. This is a good time to remember those who die because humans didn't find the time to care for them.

I especially want to honor and remember those who are visible each and every day but seem to be not seen. The millions of animals of all kinds that are killed by humans driving automobiles. I recently went to a funeral of a friend's relative, having to drive around 40 miles to get there. I was struck by the contrast between having an elaborate ceremony to mark the life and death of a human and the callousness with which we kill other animals and then leave the bodies of the killed beside the roadways where we travel.

So, while on the way there I decided to count the corpses. Traveling a distance of about 40 miles resulted in a body count of 21 and that is just on one side of the road, I made sure not to count those on the left side. A more accurate total estimate would mean doubling the number to 42 bodies of racoons, turtles, o'possums, toads, squirrels, birds, cats, dogs and unknown others. About 1 per mile. Oklahoma, which has about 12,000 miles of paved roads is an uncovered gravesite for about 12,000 sentient beings at any given time. What I don't know is the turnover, how often are animals are killed at the rate of one per mile...I do know that even one is too frequent.

If we extrapolate that 1 death per mile of paved road occurs nationwide then we are talking about 2,319,535 miles of paved roads....that means at any given moment there are about 2 million 300 thousand bodies lying on or beside the roadways at any given time. Who knows how many are killed over the course of a year. A tragic, horrible and unnecessary slaughter that goes on and on. Unnecessary because even without giving up automobiles much could be done to reduce the death toll but isn't. Slowing down would do much to reduce the killing, being more alert would do much to reduce the killing, simply caring might do much to reduce the killing.

Spring is especially deadly because many of these feather, fur and skin beings are looking for mates and are traveling a bit more than usual. Early evening and morning is especially deadly because many of those we haven't managed to kill off do their activities at those times. I don't always, but sometimes I stop and move their smashed and broken bodies off to the side of the road...to the grass and earth that will care more for them than the hard and human-made pavement. I no more pass any small body without an apology, sometimes silent, sometimes aloud. I don't turn off my seeing and thinking and feeling anymore when I drive. That makes driving relatively unpleasant so I do as little of it as I can.

By the time I arrived at the funeral ceremony for the human I was in a properly somber mood. I had passed many dead beings, beings dead before their time, beings dead before their years were used up, beings dead because some human was in a hurry to go somewhere.

I will and do remember them.