The little mouse in the corner

Mealtime for the family of a gastroenterologist is not for the weak-of-stomach. It's not my fault that seeing flaming Cherries jubilee brought out to our table prompts an uncontrollable reflex in me to discuss the really cool case of hemorrhoidal bleeding I'd seen lately. It just happens.

For that reason the rest of my family has no hesitancy in bringing up subjects that others might find a bit unappetizing.

One evening at a nice restaurant Daughter the Younger told us of a time she had been to a zoo and got to watch feeding time for the snakes. "There was this one fat old lazy snake they were feeding. The workers dropped a little white mouse in the snake's cage. The snake woke up and took one bite of the mouse's tail, lost interest, and fell asleep. There was the poor little mouse with half his tail gone, shivering in the corner as the snake slept. I kept thinking, 'Why are we just standing here? Isn't anyone going to rescue the poor little thing?'".

I agreed. We mammals had better stick together. Under threat of punishment we quickly changed the subject.

By the end of the meal, though, I thought I might break down and cry. Countless thousands of innocent people had died in the tsunami just the week before. Mice are eaten by other animals everyday. The hamburger I just ate required the killing of some cow who never meant me any harm. Yet this story touched something deep within my soul, a feeling that life-as-it-is-ordained is unjust and cruel and mean.

Somewhere in Florida a 'little white mouse' of a person is slowly dying as the snakes sleep and as we stand about wondering, "Why are we just standing here? Isn't anyone going to rescue the poor little thing?" People die all the time, cancer patients long for the day they will no longer hurt so bad, people with Lou Gehrig's disease look upon their future with only fear and dread, and life for the rest of us goes on. Yet this story touches something deep within my soul, a feeling that life-as-it-is-ordained is unjust and cruel and mean.