The date was April 1st, 2025. She had gone out for a leisurely walk, minding her own business, soaking up the sights and sounds on this beautiful, blue-sky day.
Pausing for a moment to rest, she suddenly spots him, out of the corner of her eye, staring at her.
This wasn’t the first time she had encountered those menacing eyes.
Just last week, she had narrowly escaped a near-fatal run-in with him.
Perhaps she thought she had seen the last of him, yet here he was creepily stalking her again (as if there was any other type of stalking).
Was she considering whether or not this was just an April fool’s joke and that he’s not a real threat?
The stakes were too high for her to take that chance.
With cardiovascular and respiratory systems revved up and ready for action, she freezes, as if deciding what her next move, if any move, should be.
What options did she have?
It’s unlikely she’s considering going toe to toe in a fight with this guy.
Should she run toward safety?
Could she make it there before he gets to her?
Would she be better off remaining still so as to not further arouse his predatory instincts?
It’s as if each of them are waiting on the other to make the first move.
Finally, with instincts dictating her actions, she takes off running toward safety.
He follows her, in hot pursuit.
Just when she nears safety, he gets ahold of her leg and it looks like he will prevail.
Somehow, she shakes him off and makes it inside to safety with him locked outside.
The lights are out so he’s not able to see her inside, yet he continues acting aggressively so as to remove any doubt in her mind that he would kill her if he had the chance.
Eventually, he becomes disinterested and moves on.
One could only imagine that she breathes a sigh of relief.
A news channel picks up the story and sends a reporter out into the field to see if they can get an interview with the victim.
En route to the scene, the TV crew begins speculating about what her reaction will be.
They wondered if she would even be capable of speaking so soon after the incident?
And, they wondered, if she does speak, what is she going to say?
The crew began offering unsolicited suggestions to the reporter.
“Maybe you should ask her if she can forgive him for what he did to her?” was one of the suggestions.
“Are you kidding me?”
The reporter quickly squashed that idea, and reprimanded the crew member for being so insensitive as to even suggest that anyone could or should forgive their attacker.
The reporter came up with what she thought would be a much better question for the victim: “If you could go back and do things differently this morning, so that you would’ve avoided being attacked today, what would you do differently?”
She was certain the victim would have some personal regrets to go along with her justifiable resentment toward the attacker.
After the crew arrived, the reporter began making her way toward the victim, who had only recently felt safe enough to re-emerge from hiding.
Much to the reporter’s dismay, the victim was unable to put her experience into words and seemed completely incapable of sharing how she was feeling now that the event was over. In fact, the victim no longer seemed bothered and even appeared perplexed as to why all the need for such a production.
As the reporter was signing off, sending it back to the anchor in the studio, she said, “…so, sadly, we’re left here today with more questions than answers.”
If you’re feeling somewhat disappointed by the cliffhanger ending to this story, you’re not alone.
While we will never know just what she would have said, if she could have spoken that day, I’ll go out on a limb and make a few assertions:
- She would have been unable to recall what the stalker looked like.
- She would have been unable to re-experience what she felt that day.
- She would have been incapable of feeling resentment toward the stalker.
- She would have been incapable of feeling regret over what she could have or should have done differently to avoid being in that situation.
- She would have been incapable of feeling anxiety about a possible future encounter with him.
Because of these features, some might be tempted to give her a diagnosis of Dissociative Identity Disorder.
But wait, before attaching that label to her, I should probably mention…the victim is a rabbit…and her stalker is a wolf.
So while I cannot guarantee that she is thinking of herself as having completed an incredible “triumph” of survival, I can assert, with near certainty, that she is not thinking of her close encounter as a “tragedy.”
And, therefore, the rabbit will not be burdened for years to come with regret or resentment for how that day played out.
“But, Joe, you know humans are not rabbits, right?!”
Yes, you’re right!
And, while we wouldn’t want to exchange our brain hardware for the brain hardware of a rabbit (no offense, Easter Bunny), I believe we are capable of clearing up the software issues that lead to much of the dysfunction we humans experience – dysfunction which rabbits cannot fathom.
If you’re interested in learning more about what working with me could look like, you can schedule a complimentary consultation with me (via Zoom) by clicking this link.