This is Sheriff Peanut Butter Brickle. We all make mistakes. We all wish we could go back and do something over. But sometimes, that is impossible. Sometimes, our mistakes are more serious than others. Sometimes, we can’t even call it a mistake, but an action we took or did not take that we regret. And the persons in our family are feeling pretty bad right now. And they said they deserve to feel bad. Their decision cost a life.
We had to work a lot this weekend and we had to film a video. The persons were tired and it was getting hot. It gets very hot in this Florida place. So hot that Girl Person said we needed to hurry up.
And as we went around a corner, a lizard tried to get thru an open screen in a building. As he did, he got a little stuck. Ok. A lot stuck. But we were busy filming and Girl Person said she saw this happen all of the time. She said to let him wiggle out and we would check on him in a few minutes when we were done with a scene. And you guess it. We all forgot. We walked away. We didn’t help him down. We let him down.
As the rain came that afternoon, Boy Person all of a sudden remembered the lizard. And he rushed back to the building. But it was too late.
Boy Person got him out of the screen. He brought him back to the RV. And he asked Girl Person what they should do. Was he alive? What could they do? Could they do anything at all?
They looked up information and tried and tried and tried. They gave him water. They tried to revive him. They tried to give him CPR.
They kept hoping and hoping and trying and trying. But it became clear there was nothing they could do. Their decision to walk away had cost a life. Working to them was more important than helping a living thing at that moment. No matter what they told themselves, this was a fact. The lizard was gone.
Boy Person said a few words. He talked and they both agreed. There was no excuse for what they did. And they had to admit to themselves that their priorities that day were not the living. Their priorities were very selfish. And they would never let themselves forget the lizard. Never.
How are your priorities? Have you ever become so preoccupied with unimportant things that you neglected others like family or friends? Do you neglect animals or other living things?
Do the unimportant things start to overshadow the living things around us that need our help, our love and our compassion? Can we admit to ourselves that we need to get back on track? It can mean a life.
There’s not much we can say other than we are sorry, lizard. Your beautiful eyes and little feet are now lifeless. But your life touched us.
We wish we could change our actions that day. We wish you were still here. And we will never forget you. You didn’t deserve our neglect, you deserved our respect. We have to ask ourselves if we only help when it’s convenient to do so.
A life is a life. Every one of us makes the world a better place. Especially a lizard.
We all deserve to live our days, no matter how many they number.
–Sheriff Peanut Butter Brickle
In memory of the lizard, our “Rescue Of The Month” is The Florida Wildlife Hospital.
The Florida Wildlife Hospital is a non-profit organization dedicated to Florida’s wildlife in need. They aid sick, injured, and orphaned wildlife and return them to the wild. http://www.floridawildlifehospital.org
Consider sharing our fundraiser for the month of June. Every share and every dollar counts.
