Tick

Tick lives in the grass and woods around the cabin. Tick is there, doing the same thing I am, figuring out day by day what to do to stay alive. Though sometimes described as a parasite or a pest, what Tick does to get through the day isn't substantially different than any of the others who live here.

I read somewhere that I should build a fence around the cabin to keep Deer away. Doing so would supposedly also keep Tick and the diseases she carries away from me and my family. Unfortunately, there is no fence that would contain Tick. Like me, she travels where she will based on reasons that make sense only to her. She does not always hitch a ride on Deer.

Ideas like fences simply promote fear, and ask me to sacrifice interactions with all of the creatures that walk close to the cabin. There is no fence that would keep Deer out and allow Raccoon and Fisher, Squirrel and Mink to get though.

I am left to live with the possibility that Tick may end up on me, and that I may end up with one of the diseases she carries. For me, the sacrifices of the alternatives are too great. Today I will be living with the effects of my choices, in my experience of how I feel right here right now. I will avoid the limits of actions that are intended to protect me from what might happen at the expense of my freedom and the freedom of others, including Tick.