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----
-title: A Critter in the House
----
-
-Life Lesson: Compassion and Forgiveness are better than anger.
-
-This story happened in the Maine house, probably about 1996. As far as
-I can remember, I was the only person at home, which was a very rare
-occasion. I could be just making it all up because I have no
-corroborating witnesses, but I swear it really happened.
-
-I was upstairs in the bedroom at the time and I heard a lot of
-commotion going on in another room. It sounded like the patter of little
-feet that were running very fast. There were two sets of footsteps, like
-something was chasing something else. It seemed to start in an upstairs
-bedroom and then I could tell the chase proceeded down the stairs at
-breakneck speed, much faster than any human could go. Alarmed, I started
-walking down the stairs to try to figure out what kind of skirmish was
-ensuing in my house and causing such a ruckus. As I neared the bottom of
-the stairs, I caught a glimpse of our cat. She was racing as fast as she
-could go to catch up to a critter of some kind. They were tearing all
-around the house, under the furniture, out to the kitchen and back to
-the living room. I could only stand at the bottom of the stairs and
-watch dumb-founded as the race continued. Finally, as the running
-animals neared where I was standing, the cat caught up with the critter
-and it looked like a ball of fur with a few tails sticking out. It was
-just like I used to see in cartoons when a dog and a cat were fighting.
-I had no idea what to do to save the poor little critter that our cat
-was determined to vanquish, so I just held my stupefied gaze.
-
-Suddenly, the cat popped out of the ball of fur and landed on her feet
-stone-still. The other critter was now on its back, also stone-still,
-with its feet pointing skyward. It was almost like the cat called
-time-out so the two could catch their breath before the next round of
-the battle. Now I could see that the victim the cat was chasing was a
-flying squirrel. It was a beautiful little creature with snow-white
-under fur, a brown back and long brown tail. The cat was looking up at
-me as if to say, "Look what I flushed out of the shadows in our house,
-but don't worry, I got this!" I looked down at the little beastie with
-sympathy. I thought the cat must have killed it because it wasn't
-moving. I reached down and picked it up by the tail. I took a few steps
-over to the front entry door and opened it to set the creature down on
-the landing of the front steps. The squirrel was still acting quite
-dead, not moving a muscle. However, before I had a chance to let go of
-its tail, the squirrel called time-in. Much to my amazement, he was able
-to swing his body up and sink his teeth into the fleshy tip of my thumb,
-which was still pinching the end of his tail.
-
-Now, my reaction time was many times slower than that of the squirrel,
-but when the message finally arrived at my brain about 15 milliseconds
-later, panic took over. I jerked my hand back, but the squirrel was
-still attached to it. Next, I flung my hand away, trying to dislodge the
-little critter who seemed determined to hang on for dear life. This
-time, however, it worked and the squirrel let go. He landed on the
-threshold of the open front door. I quickly slammed the door closed to
-prevent the squirrel from coming back in. Thinking the ordeal was over,
-I examined my thumb to assess the damage. I went back upstairs to clean
-the wound and finish dressing.
-
-About five minutes later, I came back down the stairs. I had a band-aid
-on my thumb, but my indignation and mental state were still somewhat
-inflamed. At the bottom of the stairs, I found the cat near the closed
-front door. She was intently staring at the spot where the squirrel had
-landed on the threshold of the door. Then I heard a faint skritch,
-skritch on the other side of the door. I waited a moment and listened
-intently. There it was again, an unmistakable scratching noise coming
-from the other side of the door. I thought to myself, "Seriously! Is
-that crazy squirrel still trying to invade my house to even the score
-with the mean old cat?" I went through the kitchen to go out the side
-door. I wanted to go around to the front door from the outside to see
-what the squirrel was up to.
-
-Sure enough, there he was clawing and gnawing at the front door. Upon
-closer inspection, I realized he wasn't trying to get back in my house.
-His foot was securely caught between the door and the threshold
-weather-stripping. He was merely trying to free himself and get the heck
-out of Dodge. He was terrified as I approached and tried with renewed
-desperation to dislodge his foot.
-
-My first thought was to find a big stick and put the miserable little
-beast out of its misery. After all, he had caused me quite a fright and
-I could get rabies or Ebola or some other terrible disease from the bite
-he gave me. But now he was in my power. It was the perfect opportunity
-to get my revenge.
-
-Fortunately, that first urge didn't last long. As I watched his
-desperation, my heart softened and I realized that he was just a poor
-little critter that wanted to get back to his home in the forest. Maybe
-it was a mother squirrel that had little babies to take care of or
-perhaps it was a young squirrel that didn't know that humans and cats
-were bad news. I opened the door just enough for it to remove its foot
-and skitter away.
-
-As I watched it run with a bit of a limp into the forest, my anger
-melted away. I then realized that compassion was a much better emotion
-than anger or desire for revenge. I felt my peace restored and a great
-relief that the poor little fellow was once again free to live his
-simple life in the forest. I hoped that the contrast between the two
-emotions would help me make the same choice the next time I felt that I
-had been wronged by someone else. Compassion for my fellow men and
-forgiveness for their human weaknesses will always be the better
-choice.