Today, while riding my bike, a squirrel darted out in the road ahead of me about 20 yards away, so well out of h. arms way However, it stopped dead in its tracks in the middle of the road.  Without much though I aimed my front wheel right at it figuring that it was either going to go forward or go back, but rest assured, it would not be in the same spot that I was currently aiming at.

As I drew closer, the squirrel did not move!  Proportionately my confidence that it would move started to fade as my anxiety about running the little guy over increase.  I could feel a rush of adrenaline suggesting I act.  Memories of running over a squirrel with my bike a few years ago flashed through my mind, as well as the horror of watching it run off into the bushes dragging its now broken hind legs behind it.  Certainly, I owe a karmic dept to that poor soul as it surely lived out the rest of its shortened life suffering.

I did not want that to happen to this creature that was still motionless with the doom of a speeding bike drawing rapidly closer to it.  I made the quick decision to veer left to the stern of the squirrel.  Squirrels, as you may know are very quick and can turn on a dime to dart in any direction.  Just because its front was facing the other way was no guarantee that it would head in that direction, but that was the gamble that I took in that moment.

The rest of the bike ride was uneventful.  I finished the 26 mile loop in just a little over two hours … slower than I’d prefer, but at least I was free of guilt as the squirrel and I chose alternate paths that did not test the theory that two object cannot occupy the same space.  That experiment, i can try another time … in a safe and controlled environment.