I may have
been 8 in Buenos Aires. I made a Honda (a slingshot) by cutting the inner tube
of a bicycle. I used it on a bird that was in one our garden’s plum trees. I
killed it and I was instantly sorry.
Many years
later in our Kerrisdale garden around 1990 we had squirrels that were eating
our bulbs. I went to Three Vets and bought an air gun replica of Clint Eastwood’s
Smith & Wesson Model 29 double-action revolver chambered in .44 Magnum. One
day as I opened the kitchen door I saw a squirrel. I shot it. It leaped into the
air and went down. When I neared it, the squirrel was agonizing. I felt sorry.
A few days later someone came into our house and stole my CDs, the sound system
and the gun.
In 1957 I was 15 and living in Nueva Rosita, Coahuila, Mexico. I had a friend who had a rifle and one day invited me to hunt beavers in a river. We shot over 50 of them. Only a few months later did I become horrified over my action,
For years
until about three years ago I would put slug bait as slugs are a hosta’s biggest
enemy. I don’t do that anymore.
My
grandmother often told me the story of two aging hunters. One of them tells
that other, “Suppose you are charged by a
tiger?” He responds, “I would shoot
him between the eyes with my .30-06 Springfield rifle.” ‘This is countered
by, “What if your rifle misfires?” The
answer is, “I would wait for him to get
close and I would shoot him with my pistol.” This goes on until the hunter
climbs a tree and is pursued by the tiger. He finally said, “Do you want the tiger to eat me? Let him eat
me.”
When I leave
my deck door open sometimes flies or bees get in. They somehow go up the stairs
and they are in my room. I desperately try to capture them with a glass and
take them outside. I don’t always succeed. That happened last night with this
little bee. I was heartbroken when I found him dead in my bathroom floor.
It would
seem I have some Buddhists tendencies.
