Doing Good Deeds
I played a minor role in a major screw-up last weekend.
I didn’t do anything wrong, but I might have done more to prevent it.
As I may have mentioned before, I broke my leg two months ago and I’m still recovering, so instead of going for a hike, my partner drove us to a churchyard bench we often stop at on one of our favourite walks here in England. The gate was closed when we arrived, so I limped out and opened it for Sal to drive in. Then I closed the gate.
While we were at the bench, two women arrived to inspect the property after the Sunday service. Their selfimportant manner suggested they may have been church officials, but they didn’t have the awareness to close either of the gates they passed through, which left an open path to the road for the two sheep grazing on the lawn.
I recognised the potential for trouble because drivers here do not expect to encounter livestock on the roads. But my leg wasn’t up for a stroll to the gate and I didn’t ask Sal to go because we were planning to leave as soon as we finished our flask of tea, and the sheep seemed perfectly content where they were. Well… at least until a couple of middleaged walkers came by.
Evidently, they recognised the sheep because when the man spotted them, he called their owner to ask if he would like the hikers and their dog to usher the animals back into his field… which, of course, he did. That’s when the fun started.
The man stationed his wife by the gate to the pasture which was located in the carpark between the gate to the road and the gate to the churchyard. Then he and the dog circled behind the sheep to drive them back to where they belonged. It started really well and I wasn’t too bothered when the couple didn’t respond to my advice to close the gate to the road. The dog’s posture and the way the man commanded him made me think they were old hands at what they were doing, so I shut-up, sat back and watched to see what I could learn.
The first lesson was that people are not always as competent as they first appear, and the second was that my worries about the gate were justified. That’s right, as soon as the dog maneuvered the sheep through the first gate, they ignored the one to their pasture and trotted off down the road with the would-be shepherds and their dog in hot pursuit.
It was comical the way the pieces fell together. The women arrived, left the gates open and then disappeared inside the church. Then five minutes later, a couple with a sheep dog and the willingness to go out of their way to help a neighbour walked by. What are the chances of that?
The couple eventually returned with one of the sheep but it ran off again before they reached the pasture, so evidently, their efforts just created extra work for the farmer. But their intentions were good, and I respect them for that.
I just wish I’d made more effort to help.