There is no sound more bone-chilling than the thump of a car tire rolling over a live animal.

At least, I don’t think there is.

I wouldn’t know because I haven’t done it.

In my four short years of driving experience, I’ve never hit any roadside creatures. Squirrels, raccoons and even skunks are safe to walk where they please when I’m on the road, because I’ll sooner risk my own life swerving and stopping in the middle of traffic to save them.

Even if they’ll only end up flattened by a semi an hour later.

But I still live in fear of the day someone’s beloved house pet walks out into the road and I nail it with my hulking Dodge Neon.

I’ve had my close calls. Taking route 25 between Perrysburg and Bowling Green several times a week, sometimes it seems as if the little guys are just hurling themselves in front of my vehicle.

Two summers ago, I narrowly missed hitting a cat. In my defense, it was nighttime, the road was unlit and the cat survived. Meanwhile, I almost drove into a ditch.

People may think me silly, but I can’t help it. I can’t afford to feel guilt over hitting Fido.

This is why if a pigeon is tiptoeing across the street, I will creep up on it at five miles per hour just to give it fair warning.

If it still doesn’t get the hint, I will stop. My mother says, ‘Don’t do that, it will move on its own!’

But what if it doesn’t? I can’t be responsible for this!

And why shouldn’t we stop for an animal in the road? Just because we’re the ones sitting protected in a five ton metal contraption doesn’t give us the right to carelessly zoom across the highways we’ve built over land that is theirs, too.

Granted, I can acquire a guilty conscience over almost anything, which is funny because I’m not even Catholic, but contributing to the roadkill problem would be a major source of shame. It’s bad enough that taking a 10 minute cruise warrants the sight of a half dozen decomposing carcasses.

To those who work in maintaining the highways and roads of Ohio, do you realize how unsightly this is?

Worry about the uneven pavement some other time. Get the roadkill off of the streets first.

Not only is it an eyesore, but it’s disrespectful to our fellow living things to just leave them littering the ‘landscape.’

How would you feel if you got hit by a car and we left your body out there to rot? Somehow I don’t think human corpses baking on the blacktop would sit too well with anybody, but somehow it’s perfectly acceptable to let a dead cat decaying in plain sight.

But it’s not just this highway homicide which disturbs me.

Accidents happen; casualities will occur on the road.

Finding a ‘pest’ who has made its home in your kitchen or bedroom, however, gives you the proper amount of time to react to the situation in the correct way.

Stop and calm yourself. Don’t scream in disgust. Don’t maim it. Don’t kill it. Just let it be.

Ask yourself: will a tiny mouse living in my garage have an ultimately negative impact upon my life?

Probably not. Chances are that you won’t even run into the creature again after spotting it the first time.

Yet the first reaction for the average person is to grab the nearest newspaper and swat the crap out of the pest, or suffocate it with hairspray. Some will even invest in a set of mousetraps to take care of the bigger ones.

Futile! These animals will simply find new ways to burrow and nestle their way into your home. They aren’t hurting anyone.

I currently share my bathroom with a spider about the size of a quarter. I see it every day in the same place on my ceiling. I may as well name it because it’s practically a pet at this point. I won’t kill it. I won’t even move it. In the mornings, I say hello to it and we share our plans for the day with each other.

Sure, I worry just as much as the next guy that the spider will crawl into my mouth as I sleep, but it’s like they say, if it doesn’t kill you, it only makes you stronger, right?

Learning to share ‘our’ space with all creatures, from your beloved Fido to the most seemingly insignificant spider, makes us stronger and more compassionate.

It’s important to realize that just because we’re bigger, ‘smarter’ and have the most extensive means of assaulting other species, doesn’t mean we should.