Originally Posted by kel

Of course, I've since learned that I really don't need to stay up late at night worrying about ants. But still, I sometimes wonder when I would have learned that lesson, if that event had never happened. It's entirely possible that I would have learned it at reading age by an article such as this. I certainly know many people of reading age who know that animals are alive in an intellection sense, but have never felt the visceral compassion that drives my decision to do such things as rescue a near-dead dove from the pet store and spend my entire savings account bringing her back from death's door.