Baby hedgehog crisp bag drama

Sat in the laundrette this morning, (waiting for my washing to dry, not just hanging out, drifter style), I spotted this story in the paper about a baby hedgehog that got stuck in a crisp packet:

"baby hedgehog"

This story sums up for me everything I love about the human species, and at the same time, everything that completely baffles me.

Within most people there is a basic level of kindness and compassion. As a species, we are blessed with strength of character and determination in the face of danger – the kind of determination that makes you want to spend three and a half hours trying to get a hedgehog out of a crisp packet.

Yet while I sat in the laundrette, dozens and dozens of people walked past the woman outside the little Sainsbury’s next door selling The Big Issue without even acknowledging her. Now I’ve nothing against hedgehogs, but where is the logic in that?

Of course our irrationality and lack of perspective manifests itself often in wonderfully unpredictable creativity and passion for the most bizarre of things, but it also means that while baby hedgehogs all over the country are being rescued, other actual human beings are living in poverty, being abused, and coping alone with other devastating problems.

Does this make sense to you?

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8 Comments

  1. lavenderjack
    3 November, 2012 / 5:30 pm

    How did they know the baby hedgehog was even ‘stuck’ in the true sense of the word? He could have been licking at the salt and mooching around with plans to leave by the same way he came in later on? I wonder if the woman selling the Big Issue had been stuck somewhere whether she would have elicited the same feeling of sympathy or whether she would have been completely ignored? I dare say no-one would even notice she was missing. People are strange. That’s not to say we shouldn’t have warm fuzzy feelings for ‘poor defenceless animals’, but what about a sense of perspective here? Or is that just me?

    • 4 November, 2012 / 10:31 am

      No, not just you at all, I totally agree. It’s jsut bizarre isn’t it? I wonder if all these people rush to ‘help’ things like hedgehogs to ease the guilt of not stopping for the Big Issue lady?

  2. 3 November, 2012 / 8:00 pm

    When I lived in DC, there were lots of homeless people panhandling everywhere and I think one tends to get desensitized or fed-up with it. Me, I picked one somewhat friendly drug addict and only gave money to him. He was always very appreciative.

    If everyone picked their own favorite homeless people, I think the problem would be solved.

    I’m glad the hedge hog was okay. Kindness makes me smile.

  3. 4 November, 2012 / 10:32 am

    That’s an excellent idea Brian! It raises another good point though. In the UK we have lots of charities where you adopt a child in Africa and support them through your donations, and lots more people I’m sure sign up to that, bypassing the people they can actually SEE. Weird.

  4. 5 November, 2012 / 12:00 am

    Interesting human contradiction you point out.

  5. Beeface
    6 November, 2012 / 8:45 pm

    But you know that if you gave a hedgehog money it wouldn’t use it to buy drugs.

    • 8 November, 2012 / 12:29 pm

      The pigeons though. It’s all about the crack for them.

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