The hedgehog in the road


I was walking down the road when I heard a loud, impatient beeping from a car. It was stuck behind another car which had, for some reason, stopped in the middle of the road. The first instinct is to sympathise with the car which was impatiently beeping. But then, on closer inspection, I saw a very small hedgehog scurrying across the road. The hedgehog looked frail and tiny compared to the scale of the motor cars.

The careful driving of the first car had prevented a squashed hedgehog.

hedgehog-ball
Hedgehog escaping to safety

Sometimes, we get irritated with the behaviour of other people – but often this is on only partial information. We don’t know the reasons or motivations behind their actions. On first glance, it looked selfish behaviour to stop in the road, but on a second glance I was grateful to this careful driver. It is a reminder to be careful of judgement from only a partial impression.

hedgehog-close
After his narrow escape, I took a photo of the hedgehog. It was curled into a ball recovering from the attention of motor cars and giant humans. I was glad it was safe and wish it good luck in eating the slugs of Menston.

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3 responses to “The hedgehog in the road”

  1. Thank you, i must to start a painful day at work but this changes my focus. It is very true that the worst enemy is the inner me.