Raccoons and dharma

When I was a kid, I swear my favorite animal was the raccoon.  I just liked the way they looked (the mask is awesome), and they had a pretty cool "lifestyle" going on too!

And yet raccoons were about the furthest thing from my mind today as I was driving home from a friend's graduation/18th birthday party.  It was a nice hour-long early summer evening drive through Central Minnesota...

However, just as I was coming into the final stretch, in front of my car a fairly large racoon just appeared! It was right in the middle of my lane, and running at top speed down the paved country road.

Now at this point I must confess that my guard was a bit down.  I'd already made it through the "deer area" (where I'd actually hit a deer a few years ago) w/ no problems, and was on a flat, nearly treeless stretch of road.  And I was really looking forward to getting back and playing some music....

So when I saw the animal, I was in such a state of mind that I momentarily "froze" and just kept going.  Right away, though, I "came to" and wanted swerve to the other lane.  But by then I didn't have the time or space to veer around anymore.  And before i could do anything else, I heard this thump and realized i'd just run over the raccoon. Fuck.

Right after that I felt really bad, and it lasted for a while.  Eventually though, I realized that in a way this raccoon must have had some kind of deathwish.  That is, it *also* could easily have run off the side of the road (it must have heard me coming...)!

But somehow the 2 of us, in some seemingly "cosmic" synchronation, created this heavy moment. That's because we both stayed on the course that we were presently on (and both created).  And so, a course of actions with an outcome that was likely to happen came to pass.

All that aside, I don't ever want it to happen again!  And so now -- going forward (in the linear sense of time) -- I will try to always be ready and help create a different outcome. Period.