Editor’ s Notes
A Story of Storm by Fr. Richard Bayuk, c. pp. s., Editor
The following story is from the local( Kansas City) npr website, July 18 th. The video described can easily be found online.
Dogs are cute. Baby deer are arguably even cuter. So, what could be more heroic and life-affirming than a dog saving the life of a fawn? Storm, an English golden retriever, was out for a walk Sunday morning along the Long Island Sound with fellow dog Sara and his owner, Mark Freeley. Amid the lapping waves, a baby deer was in over its head out in the sound.“ Storm just plunged into the water and started swimming out to the fawn,” Freeley told cbs New York.
Freeley took video and provided narration of the occasion.“ Storm is trying to save this baby deer,” he begins. Then a note of doubt creeps into Freeley’ s voice.“ I think he’ s trying to save him.” Storm … grabs the deer by the scruff of its neck, swims it to shore and then brings it to rest on the sand. The deer is seen breathing heavily but otherwise remains still. There are a few worrisome seconds when it looks as if Storm might bite the very woodland creature he carried to safety. But the nips turn to nuzzles as Storm prods the deer, as if checking to see whether it’ s alive. The video ends there, but not the rescue. Possibly spooked by Storm, the fawn ran back into the water.“ This time it went out even further,” Freeley told cbs. Freeley and another man … waded into the sound and used a rope to pull the fawn back to shore for good. The fawn, reportedly covered in ticks and suffering an eye injury, is recuperating at an animal rescue organization. Storm, meanwhile, is probably off fighting crime or solving math problems.
So, what does that have to do with anything, other than being a heartwarming story and taking its place among the thousands of cute animal videos online? Stay with me.
It is September 20th as I am writing this. Just under a month ago, Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas. We watched the drama of unprecedented flooding as it unfolded on our tv screens. The destruction was widespread and massive. Just five days after Harvey found Houston, Hurricane Irma formed in the Atlantic— and did not dissipate until September 15th. In its path, there were resort islands completely destroyed and now uninhabited. Much of the Caribbean and then the state of Florida sustained significant damage to property and the environment as well as loss of life. And now this morning, category four Hurricane Maria— after destroying the island of Dominica( over 70,000 residents)— is bringing massive destruction to Puerto Rico, much of which is still without power since Irma just 10 days earlier. continued on page 4
2 • The New Wine Press • October 2017