Making a Choice to Help

A few weeks back, I was walking down a snow covered Granville. I saw a pigeon looking like it was caught on some ice on the side walk. I bent over the poor thing and touched it with my glove. It wasn't stuck but injured. I couldn't just leave it there to die. So I picked it up with both gloves and held the bird gently as I walked two block to the vet office. It's little heart was beating quickly..as I walked along suddenly the bird stopped moving. I think it died in my arms. I got to the vet practically in tears. I lay the pigeon gently on the floor of the office and walked away after letting the office clerk know. I wasn't positive that the bird was dead but it sure felt like it. It hit close to home for me. I remembered holding my dog childhood friend Flower as she was put to sleep eighteen years ago. I remembered standing in Lake Michigan with my Rabbi spreading the ashes of my beloved cat Ezzy three years ago. I was reminded of how animals touch our lives even if just a few seconds. Thoughts of guilt rang through me, maybe I killed it, I thought to myself as I left the vet's office. A friend reminded me later that maybe the bird was already dying and I just gave him/her some comfort. That thought gives me comfort.