I hobbled up to a beautiful baby dairy cow hanging out right next to the Path (an adolescent calf who had been callously tagged as “#852” by her “owner” but gently renamed “Gertrude” by myself) and paused long enough to recite my standard litany of apologetic encouragement to her — apologizing for the raw arrogance & vapid cruelty that would have her be brutally murdered just a few short months after our encounter, and trying my best to inspire her to flee while she still could; pointing out the nearest copse of trees where she could remain well-enough hidden from her captors, and doing my best to motivate her to embrace the still viable option of freedom and a life full-lived … I failed in this attempt, of course. She was far too comfortable in the faux-bliss of her well-tended enclosure, and her wardens had not yet shown her their violent intentions’ inevitably blood-red colors … 🙁

“It is those who are ill who have need of a physician, not those who are well. As such, go and learn what this means: I desire mercy towards others, not sacrifice from them. For I wish you to reawaken not the compassionate who are already holy but rather the callous who still are not.” ~ via Jesus Christ (Matthew 9:12-13)

Filed under: Peace Pilgrimage #02: Walking HOME (2019), Sanctifying Sentience by Scaughdt