john woolman assignment 2 " revised b" for the final time !!!!!

One of the first things that horrified me was John Woolman's journal. When he killed the family of birds. It proved to be an experience that he carried all though life and effected on how he treated people and life itself. When I first read about the killing of the mother bird. "I stood and threw stones at her, till one striking her, she fell down dead. At first I was pleased with the exploit, but after a few minutes was seized with horror, as having in a sportive way killed an innocent creature while she was careful for her young." (page 256) I thought he was a bad child. But when he decided to kill the babies, I thought he was psychotic!
After reading on and reevaluating what he said and , I gained better knowledge of the kind of person he was. He knew without the mother to feed the babies, they would starve to death. "I beheld her lying dead and though those young ones for which she was so careful must now perish for want of their dam to nourish them; and after some painful considerations on the subject, I climbed up the tree, took all the young birds and killed them, supposing better than to leave them to pine away miserably,". I was not expecting a young child to have that sort of knowledge.
I believe the incident with the birds was an important experience for Woolman, and lesson for all of us. He learned that what he did was wrong. By killing the mother he had ultimately killed the children who needed her to live. Coming to this conclusion he killed the babies himself because they would have died anyway without their mother. He also learned that no life should be taken for granted. Everything exists for a reason.