The eyes are the window to the soul.

Have you ever had one of those haunting moments when you feel connected to the eyes of someone in a photo . . . when you feel as if they are looking back at you in real time? Many of my friends are very involved in animal shelters and animal adoption efforts. When you look at the pictures they post, do you find yourself transfixed by the animal's eyes? Do you feel like the animal is reaching out to you personally?

Maybe I'm strange, but I have those experiences almost daily. I look at a picture of a dog or a cat that needs an adopted home and my heart aches. I can't keep looking. I have to turn away.

I remember the first time I went rabbit hunting. I was with my cousins on my grandparent's farm in northwestern Indiana. “There” I remember my cousin, Bobby, saying. There was a rabbit. I brought up my rifle and looked down the sights at the rabbit. I never pulled the trigger and I've never aimed a weapon at any living creature since then.

I definitely don't want to get into an argument about hunting. I don't hate the hunter. I'd just as soon he doesn't show me his kill or pictures of same, but I accept that the human animal has been a hunter as well as a farmer back to long before recorded history. I don't think ill of the mountain lion who kills one of the mule deer who would visit our campsite. I don't condemn the lioness who takes down the young antelope for the pride. So why should I condemn the human hunter who hunts to feed his/her family? We may not need to, but that is a choice and not mine to make for others. We are like our brother bears. We are omnivores. We can survive with or without meat. Our digestive systems can handle either a carnivorous or vegetarian diet. (But it does work better with the vegetarian diet.) I consciously do not elect to kill another sentient beings - that is those living creatures who have a consciousness, can experience fear and/or pain, and struggle not to die. In stead of worrying about whether a creature fits the definition of 'sentient', I just limit my food to plants.

The Mule Deer doe watching form the woods

One of our first days at Glacier in May 2014, Pamela and I were returning from Avalanche Lake. We were actually in a campground area that would, in about four weeks, be filled with camper trailers and people. But this day it was deserted. As we walked along I was aware of being watched. In the wilderness you always want to be aware of your surroundings. While the bear will avoid you, the mountain lion is always a predator. I looked around and saw a Mule Deer watching me through the trees. I took this picture of her. The picture is framed and mounted in Willy. It is one of my favorites because when I look at it I can hardly break away from the eyes.

Look at the picture. Look at the eyes. What is she saying? What is she asking? I know there is a message, but I can't hear it, or see it, or feel it. She has never gone through a hunting season, so she doesn't know humans as predators but she doesn't trust me. But does she know that my species can mean the life or death of hers?

I so remember her eyes looking at me. I also loved to look out from the table in Willy (our 16' vintage trailer) and see a deer or animal looking back. Their eyes penetrated me. What is it? Is it some sort of corporate guilt I feel about the way their species has been treated by the very animals who should protect them - viz. humans? There is an old saying that has been accredited to everyone from Shakespeare to Cicero - “the eyes are the window to the soul.” Their eyes seem to be speaking to me, but I'm not hearing. I want desperately to sit quietly and watch so that I may learn.