Transforming Experience

At the Culture and Animals Foundation "Compassionate Living Festival" hosted annually be Dr. Tom and Nancy Regan, Dr. Regan gave a speech last year titled: "Why Animal Rights." This is an excerpt from that speech and an example of how people sometimes change as the result of a single transforming experience:

A father and his twenty-something son were hunting deer up-state New York. They'd been hunting together since the son was old enough to fire a rifle. It was something they looked forward to, an annual "bonding" event that brought the two of them closer together.
As they rounded a corner of a lake, what did they find but the largest buck they had ever seen. A true trophy animal. And there he was, only about twenty yards from the shore, standing stark still on the frozen ice. As clear a shot as could be imagined. Like shooting fish in a barrel. The two men looked at each other in astonishment. Then they began to carry out their negotiations. "You shoot!," the father whispered. "No, you shoot!," said the son. In time the father prevailed: the son would take the big buck down.
But just as the young man was about to squeeze the trigger, crash! The buck fell through the ice, disappearing for what seemed like minutes. Then, with a great thrust, there he was again, back above the water, thrashing desperately, looking for solid ground. Slowly, with great determination the buck pulled himself back on the ice, and his footing unsure, began inching his way towards the shoreline.
Again the son took aim. But just as he was ready to shoot, the buck fell through the ice for a second time. Again the determined animal fought his way back on to the ice, only to have the ice go out from under him again. And again. And again.
After the ice gave way for the fifth time, the buck was too exhausted to keep up the fight. It took all the animal's strength just to keep his head above water. Father and son, however, had just begun their rescue effort. Ever so gingerly, lying flat on the ice, the son worked himself towards the buck. When he was close enough, he secured a rope around part of the rack of horns he had only a short time before covetously imagined gracing the wall in his den. Then, along with his father, the two men, risking their life and limb, pulled the majestic animal out of the freezing water and onto the shore.
Except for heavy breathing, silence reigned. The men had never been this close to a live deer, nor the deer this close to men. Yet there was no fear. The buck turned his head, looking first at the father, then at the son, with an expression in his eyes the men had never seen before, It was as if the animal was expressing gratitude, as if he was saying, "Thank you." Then, turning slowly, the buck walked away.
When he was gone, the father looked into the eyes of his son, and the son looked into the eyes of his father. Without saying a word, they walked to their car and drove home. Without saying a word, each knew their world had changed irrevocably. After that day, the men put their guns away and never hunted again.

<