The dictionary defines road kill as A killing of an animal on the road by a vehicle.

My questions is this, are we so desensitized to death that an animal suffering or dead on the side of the road affects us so minutely that we would give it such an insensitive mundane and thoughtless name as road kill?

I was driving the other day with my children in the car and there on the side of the road was a dog. Dead. Legs straight up to the sky and it’s neck cocked to the side at an obviously unnatural angle. Luckily my children were looking the other way and I was able to avoid their questions. I can handle the questions about death; What happens when the dog dies?, How did it die?, etc.

What I can’t deal with is the questions about who killed it and why! Because honestly why did the dog have to die? I am with the next guy I’m not going to swerve out of the way and risk the lives of my children or myself to save a snake, armadillo, squirrel, cat, or dog. The life of the animal isn’t as important to me as the lives of my children. But that doesn’t mean I don’t mourn the death of every animal I pass on the side of the road.

I’m not an overly religious person. That is to say I don’t go to church every Sunday, but I do have a church I enjoy and I do pray. And every time I see an animal on the side of the road a say a silent prayer, “Dear God please let that precious (Insert animal)’s soul run through the fields of heaven for all eternity.” or fly though the sky’s of heaven if it happens to be a bird.

The thing that got me the most about seeing that sweet innocent dog on the side of the road wasn’t that it was dead, because accidents happen, but how it was laying there. It looked as if someone hit it and just keep going without a care in the world. How can anyone take a life so easily and not even care? I get that you can’t just load up your trunk with all the road kill in an effort to give them all a proper burial, but what you can do when you hit an animal is move it off the road, lay it down respectfully and leave it with a little dignity. Maybe even take it to the vet if it isn’t hurt to badly or stay with it during its last moments so it doesn’t have to die alone.

Yes their just animals but don’t animals have feelings too?

Just my thoughts. What are yours?