Sometimes life provides metaphors from pretty strange sources. One of the things that I do in my "spare" time is pretend to be a rancher. Most of the time it's a pretty low impact part-time job, but once in a while it takes a little more effort than usual. So it went when I went to check on the cows one recent Friday morning before going to work at my real job. At first glance the cow that had apparently spent the night tangled in the fence seemed to be in fairly good shape. First impressions can be deceiving.
She clearly had scraped her legs pretty badly trying to extricate herself from the situation, but there was otherwise no visible sign of injury. After cutting the heavy-gauge-cattle-panel fence away from her with the bolt cutters, it quickly became obvious that she wasn't just going to get up and go her way. It was also obvious that I wouldn't be making it into the office any time soon. The first call to the vet wasn't encouraging.
The first advice from the vet was just to keep her sitting up (even if I had to prop her up), and make sure she had food and water. The tone on the other end of the phone line made it clear that the vet couldn't really do anything for her that I couldn't do, and the fact that she wasn't getting up was not good. Cows will surprise you with some of the things they do, but it's safe to say they aren't smart animals. Caught in a fence, they will struggle to the point of causing major muscle injury. To top it all off, this particular cow was carrying a calf that could arrive at any moment.
Before the end of the day it was clear that she wouldn't be able to sit up on her own. Levering a cow into a sitting position is not as easy as it might sound (and I'm guessing it doesn't really sound easy). Through the weekend she continued to eat and drink, but still couldn't sit up without a prop. Unfortunately, by Wednesday she hadn't eaten for two days and was completely unresponsive. It was time to call the vet to end her suffering and find out if there was some way to save the calf. The vet said that he could put the cow out of her misery, and deliver the calf by c-section...and that he was sure he could get to me by Saturday. He was also nice enough to give me 10 seconds worth of instructions on how to do the c-section myself if I didn't want to wait. Call to second vet, he could come by that day to end her misery, but he wanted nothing to do with a c-section.
To make a long story a little less long (and to leave out details that nobody wants to read about), at the end of the day there was a set of old clothes crackling in the burn barrel and a pretty little brown calf wrapped in blankets laying on the lawn. It's been almost a month now, and the little calf is doing fine.
Self reliance is a conservative trait that we need to be reminded of from time to time. There may be someone else that is better equipped to do what needs doing. Sometimes they may be willing to do the job, but not when it needs doing. Sometimes they may be ready to work now, but not willing to do the job that needs done. What needs to be done doesn't change depending on how unpleasant the task may be, or who's available and willing to do it. Some situations won't tolerate delays. So it is with the political situation in America today. The time comes to stop waiting for the rescue, and get to work, or risk losing an opportunity to save something precious.
It is also good to be reminded from time to time that choosing the lesser of bad options can be constructive. Faced with losing a cow and a calf, losing just the cow was the lesser of bad options, but it wasn't a compromise. As Thomas More said; "You must not abandon the ship in a storm because you cannot control the winds….What you cannot turn to good, you must at least make as little bad as you can".
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