Crushed-aceans

So this morning, I was walking out to put some stuff in the compost pile. It was a beautiful, dewy morning, and I had been out, earlier, reading my scriptures. (The morning outside is a wonderful place for scripture reading.) Anyway, I sat on a pile of scrap wood to read my scriptures and saw three snails. One of them was tiny. They were so beautiful, with the sun shining through their luminescent bodies, glancing off the planes of their shells. I watched them for a while and felt so good inside, thinking about how all of God's creations are beautiful... even the ones that we label as pests.

So, back to the compost heap. I was walking out to put more stuff from the kitchen on it, when suddenly, under my feet, crunch. I look down and am horrified to see a shattered snail shell, and a poor little creature that has been shredded by my careless step.

It reminded me of one time, when loli was about 2. We were walking to the park along a bike path. The sprinklers were on, and it was midmorning. We came upon a snail making its way across the asphalt. I was so excited to show and explain to her about the snail, and so I got down on my knees and bent to point out to her the shell and its little soft body, when suddenly, right in front of my eyes, a determined little brown sandal-- CRUNCH.


Loli is not a fan of crawly things. I laughed about it to people (mostly when she was out of hearing) but secretly, I was a little traumatized.

But not as traumatized as I was last Thursday. It was my birthday. Skywalker and I have never had lobster, and so we decided to go out for lobster for my birthday dinner. (Yes, we are vegetarians, but we do occasionally eat seafood. Long, drawn-out ethical explanation is for another post ;)) Anyway, When they brought the thing to us... I suddenly realized the full implications of what we were about to do, and nearly sent it back. There, in front of me, a poor dead animal (with EYES, for crying out loud, LOOKING at me), and I'm supposed to take these plier things and crush it up? How disrespectful is that? I looked at Skywalker, sitting across from me, and he smiled encouragingly, so I did it, but for a moment there...


Well, it was delicious.