So I decided to carry a little container of water when I went out walking. I thought about a few different ways to do this:
#1. I could just carry a cup of water everywhere, but I quickly saw the downside of this very basic strategy; what if I had to jump out of the way of a drunk driver, spilling the water, then encountered a thirsty worm on the way back? So no on this one.
#2. A squirt gun seemed a more convenient option, but it seemed a little -- well, incongruous, let's say -- for a grown man to go around toting one; I'm self-conscious enough as it is. And what if some nervous rookie cop spotted it and took me for a disgruntled dude come to take revenge? I work next door to the courthouse, after all.
#3. Then several days ago at the market I saw this dropper shaped like a mini baster crossed with an accordion in the baby supply section (I think it's used for sucking out mucus from baby's nose... eww). It seemed perfect, so I picked one up and continued on, but that's when I remembered -- the syringe in my desk drawer! When my cat Blood got sick I used it to give him his medicine (oral medicine that is; I just squirted some syrup into his mouth with it -- no needles). Unfortunately I never quite mastered the technique and he quickly grew to hate the whole business.
So anyway, since Monday I've been carrying a syringe of water on my walks. Interestingly enough, I have not been getting any strange looks from my coworkers or passersby on the street. Seems to me, if I saw a guy walking around clutching a camera in one hand and a syringe filled with something in the other, I would definitely be a little weirded out even if I couldn't explain why. The syringe would fit in my breast pocket but I won't do that because I fill up the syringe with cold water from the drinking fountain on the way out; I hold it in my fist to warm it up a little. I know earthworms are 'cold'-blooded, but all the same I think 'room temperature' water must be better for them, especially if they're in a weakened, vulnerable state, than a shocking splash of chilled water.
The first few days were uneventful, but this morning I had my first opportunity to put the syringe to good use. The worm I came across was seemingly healthy and well-fed (the fattest earthworm I've rescued so far), and reacted fairly vigorously to my touch, so it wasn't exactly dying of thirst, but I decided to water it anyway before grounding it; no harm in making sure when you're talking about a life (whether you're saving something or killing it, that is -- goes both ways). Here is the worm immediately after the administration of emergency hydrotherapy:
Needless to say, I felt pretty good afterwards -- both for the worm and about myself. Granted, an earthworm is tiny and a human is big, and if good karma related to bad karma in a strictly one-to-one quantitative relationship, I'd have to rescue A LOT of earthworms before the good works canceled out all the bad stuff in my life (in view of my personal history I cannot in all honesty say I've been a human being of exemplary moral character... far from it; just trying to be objective here), but still it was a good feeling knowing a creature was saved from a painful and untimely death because of my actions.
I walked the rest of the way back to the office with my eyes glued to the ground, looking to further increase my good karma (but I guess that's not the best attitude for doing good works). So much so that I forgot to look at the sky. No matter -- it was a wonderfully sunny, warm late January morning in Southern California and there were no clouds to speak of. At lunchtime, though, it was a different story altogether. There was a whole dog-and-pony show going on in the heavens. Maybe it was God's way of telling me I need to go out and get me some cheap, mindless entertainment in order to round out my life and stop being so serious.
Number of Worms Rescued So Far: 23
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