"We can take care of the body. Thank you for bringing her in."

What? No! I have to take her back where I found her. I have to find out who she belongs to. That is what I was thinking, but I said only, "Okay."

I backed out of the veterinary clinic and fled to my car. Then the tears exploded. Somehow I managed to drive home, but then I collapsed on the couch and remembered that morning's walk.

I am on my early morning walk. I've been doing this all summer and I feel great. The solitude heals me. Just the other morning a deer crossed my path.

But now I turn a corner and stop in my tracks. There, on the sidewalk, is a kitten. I can see her breathing, but it is very faint. When I touch her she lets out a whimper. I see blood on the sidewalk, as if she were dragged out of the way and then carelessly tossed aside. The grass is freshly mowed and there are clippings in her fur. I know she will die soon, but more than anything, I want this kitten to live. I knock on the door of the house. Nobody answers. I knock on all the other doors. Nobody answers. It is only 7:30.

Across the street I see an open door and take my chances. I knock and a middle-aged woman comes out. By this point I am shaking from holding back tears. Somehow, I manage to tell her and she lets me use her phone. She keeps telling me I'm a good person. Christy comes to pick me up. She brings a shoe box. Trying not to harm her more, I lift the kitten into the box.

At the vet's, the woman behind the desk sees something is wrong and waves me to the front of the line.

"Someone ran over a kitten with a lawn mower and left her there to die," I say through my tears. The woman starts getting teary eyed, but keeps herself under control. She opens the box, glances in, and shuts her eyes. She feels for a pulse; there is none.

"We can take care of the body. Thank you for bringing her in," she tells me.

I am on the couch, crying, when my mother comes in.

"Someone ran over a cat with a lawn mower." That is all I have to say before she takes me in her arms and lets me crumple onto her lap as if I were six years old.

I've always been the one to cry when the cat brings a dead bird into the house. I'm the one who catches the mice and puts them outside to save them from the trap. I'm the one who chases the cat down and forces her to drop the bird that is barely hanging on to life. I'm the one who became vegetarian because the very thought of eating what was once a breathing animal is enough to make me cry.

It is a privilege to live on this planet, but along with that privilege comes responsibility. Every human being has a responsibility to their surroundings. Our world is more than just people. Our world is plants. Our world is animals. Our world is millions of species jumbled together to form one imperfect whole. Humans may be the self-appointed leaders, but when someone can run over a kitten with a lawn mower and leave her to die, it is clear to me that humans never had the right to rule in the first place.