When I was a little girl, maybe 10 or so, my father accidently ran over a bullfrog in our yard with the riding lawn mower. Now, I must preface this story with a few facts:
1. I was a child filled with compassion for animals – I still am a huge animal advocate.
2. My grandmother was a LPN – (Licensed Practical Nurse).
3. My grandmother was not a warm and fuzzy woman nor was she a huge animal advocate like myself.
Anyway, when my father accidently ran over this adorable, helpless, slimy, gigantic green bullfrog with our lawn mower – I FREAKED OUT! Blood was all over the ground around him. He had massive cuts deep into his muscle tissue and tendons. (Hey, I also loved to watch Quincy at that time, too!) But, I was certain that my grandmother could save his life.
So, I picked up this wounded creature, did mouth to mouth (just joking), and ran down the gravel road to my grandmother’s house. I didn’t even know if his little heart was still beating, but I did know that he was definitely in critical condition at the very least. When, I finally made it to grandmother’s house, I flew onto the front porch and pushed the door open with all my might. As I made my way to the kitchen table, I screamed, “Granny, come quick!”
As I flopped my bloody patient onto the table, nothing I had envisioned happening actual did happen. First of all, I imagined my grandmother saying, “Oh my goodness. Let me get my suture kit - (again Quincy MD) and I’ll fix this poor baby right up!” What did happen? My grandmother FREAKED OUT! It seems she didn’t appreciate having a bloody bullfrog on the same table she served “beans, cornbread, and fried tators”. I was shocked! Couldn’t she see how important this was too me?
I look back at that story now and I wonder how I would have reacted if my son had brought a bloody bullfrog home to me when he was growing up? What if my granddaughter brings one home someday? Everything we do we do for our own reasons. When we don’t agree with a person’s actions, do we take time to look at the situation from their perspective? If we all did maybe there’d be one more bullfrog in the world today… lol.
Bullfrog picture - Karen Francl (photographer, copyright holder), Radford University
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