A Story Worth Sharing

One of my library patrons late this summer witnessed a wonderful bit of animal behavior that any human being would consider a privilege to behold. A deer buck reared up, and raising his front legs he used his hooves to bend down (and hold down) a bough full of apples, while a doe and a couple of fawns came over and bit off the apples from the branches of the bough. When they were finished dining, the buck released the bough, which flipped back up, tree intact. Here we have a display of paternal sensibility in a male creature we normally associate only with virility and aggression. The patron who shared this account with me is a down-to-earth professional woman whom I have been acquainted with for years. One of the perks of being a public librarian is to hear such stories. Nature can never be overestimated. Unfortunately, both established science and established religion tend to underestimate our fellow creatures. For me as a person who keeps the scientific and the spiritual in harmony within my mental works, this is evidence that the kindness we humans are capable of is a spiritual gift with which all beings are endowed, both soulfully and genetically.