(June 26, 2014 at 11:29 pm)Cinjin Wrote: Would you feel sadness?I imagine that only you could describe why you mourned. It's an intensely private thing, isn't it?
Why do so many of us feel sadness over the death of such a creature? Seriously, why?
I do remember the first animal I ever killed. It was some random songbird chick. An easy, mostly stationary target, a challenging distance away - with the thrill of actually hitting an animal hanging in the balance. I was probably 7 or 8. So I made my shot, but when the mother/father appeared flying around the nest and making the most noise I've ever heard a small bird make (my own sudden and unexpected guilt was the sound of the bird - I know they aren't as loud as I remember) - I couldn;t handle it. I shot that bird as well. It was a much more difficult shot.
I remember thinking -before- that if I hit the bird I would brag to Poppy (my grandfather - the giver of guns..lol) about the shot. -After- I decided not to tell anyone. I've only recently started telling this story at all, to anyone. My grandmother (still alive and bigger than I am) would slap me in my face today - if I told it to her. She's the reason that all the songbirds were even there. All the baths and food, etc.
While I couldn't tell you for sure why I felt it, I can tell you that I did (and I could make a million guesses as to where it came from). I didn't really get into hunting (or fishing) again till my late teens. The episode with the bird had left a bad taste in my mouth. I'm over that now, of course, I'll shoot at anything my so tells me too - or that moves funny - or irritates me - or catches the light the wrong way.........over the deterrent, that is. I still feel anguish when I hunt, I'm told by my fellow hunters that it's a very common experience.
I am the Infantry. I am my country’s strength in war, her deterrent in peace. I am the heart of the fight… wherever, whenever. I carry America’s faith and honor against her enemies. I am the Queen of Battle. I am what my country expects me to be, the best trained Soldier in the world. In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous, armed with a fierce will to win. Never will I fail my country’s trust. Always I fight on…through the foe, to the objective, to triumph overall. If necessary, I will fight to my death. By my steadfast courage, I have won more than 200 years of freedom. I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds, For I am mentally tough, physically strong, and morally straight. I forsake not, my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty. I am relentless. I am always there, now and forever. I AM THE INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!
