Andrew and the Sad Squirrel Story

It's squirrel season and you know what that means...yes, my son and his dad are outside (remember we live in the city!) with their bb gun and slingshot shooting innocent (but annoying) squirrels.

On Friday, Andrew decided to grab his gun and see if he could get a squirrel by himself. I was at the back door so I could see him and no one else was around so I told him to go for it. Here is what I saw about 10 minutes later.

He was thrilled!! As was I! He put the deceased under a bucket so that his dad could help him skin it. He came in and washed up. I hadn't heard from him for a while so I went to check on him. He was in his bed with tears running down his face. I asked him what was wrong and he told me he ran into a tree. Uh-huh. I asked him if he was upset over killing the squirrel. He started really crying then. I told him what he did was not a sin (we actually use the meat for bait for hogs) so he should not feel guilty. He said the poor little thing was suffering. I informed him that he did the right thing for putting it out of his misery. His response? "But I am the one who put it in misery!" You can't argue with that. I finally got it out of him that he was worried that it was a mommy squirrel. He had seen "the things w/ milk" on the belly of it when he put it under the bucket. He also thought he had seen a nest. We prayed for a moment then went to check for a nest. He then wanted me to check and see if it was a mommy. He removed the bucked and doggone it! The thing was still alive! It was barely hanging on, but was raising it's little paw as to say, "Help me!" Andrew was amazed but manned up and decided he must kill it now. He shot it 5 more times. By this time he was so amazed by this squirrel's ability to live that the mommy factor wasn't bothering him any longer. (should that worry me?! Kidding!) The poor thing finally died. But it put up a fight!

By the time Eric arrived home, Andrew was rightfully proud and happy again. He is an amazing shot and I was (am) very proud of how he handled the entire situation. He is so tenderhearted, yet understands that hunting is not bad if you use every part of the animal. We prayed that this would not deter him from hunting any longer. I am not sure why this one touched him so much. It's his fifth or sixth kill so I am a bit confused. But I am grateful for his compassion. He is a special young man!