such is life

yes dear grandmaof2. all the memoirs of the past!! it all strts the same way for all the parents and children! but great are the teachers who mould our path. today is the teachers day in india . we honour them on this day .!!

Well the way i see it thats just one less rat to carry germs & do damage..I would not think a thing of it at all.I would have hit the rat too...Its not like it was a dog or cat,we are talking about a germ carrying RAT!

Well I am the kind that swerves when anything comes running across the street....in your case however I don't think it mattered....and if you would have slowed or swerved what would the person behing you have done then? Anyway.....it's hard to ignore things like that with other drivers....but if I would have been you I would have smiled and given them the thumbs up~!

grandma of 2 I dont think youdid a thing wrong. the rat was there and so was your car. now rats are vermin that carry all sorts of horrible diseases and I think that trying to avoid hittin it and maybe creating an accident would have been dumb. so I think you should not be upset at all with yourself.I think good there is one less carrier of disease. those p eople who gave you the finger were in the wrong,so much dumbness over 'a rat? give me a break.

While driving a car if any thing unusual come in the way we use to take care of that . Such a small rate may not be visible in the night and may accidentally be run over. I never intentionally do this thing. I do remember when I was on a drive on the high way and all of sudden a stray dog came running from the side and I think the dog stuck to the side of the car after I applied brakes and fortunately that was not killed. Thank's god.

I don't doubt that somewhere there is someone being cuddly with a rat. Personally I think rats are yucky I would not have tried to avoid a rat either.

I look at it as an animal is a living thing. I myself would have tried to avoid it. yes I have seen many people that cuddled and hugged rats as they have had them as pets. Granted it is a rodent but still a living thing. I avoid things that run across my path as best as possible under the circumstance. I will not put myself in harms way trying to avoid anything on the roadway. If other vehicles are nearby and swerving would be a danger to that vehicle or myself then I have no choice in the matter. Just my feelings and what I would do is all. That driver giving you that gesture was wrong in all aspects I feel unless you endangered their life by your actions. HAPPY POSTINGS FROM GRANDPA BOB !!~

It's funny that I should read this now. My cat has been bringing home 1 - 2 mice every day for weeks now. I was just thinking today that I would hate for him to bring home a rat. The mice I don't mind...they are quite cute...I would hate swarms of them but 1 or 2 is fine. I decided today that I really don't like rats. I love animals (hate cockroaches) for the most part and I know people have rats as pets but I don't like them. They scare me a little but I just think they are hateful for some reason. I even like snakes and spiders....?

An accident is just that. I myself would try to avoid any animal, no matter what it is. It would give me grief inside to know I killed something. Yes, some people do have rats for pets, although I would not. It was rude of the people to belittle you for hitting the poor thing, as you weren't trying to. Maybe they like rats, who knows.

Good for you! I hate rats. I hate anything that causes the plague, in fact even the fleas have to get out of my way. Puppies and kitties on the other hand, don't anyone even look at them funny unless they are pit bulls and vicious killers, then just keep them away. I wonder how those other people who obviously love rats and hate people, would feel if a rat bit one of their own and that one came down with the bubonic plague? I read quite a bit about it and it is a horrible way to die and who knows it might have had negative effect on the survivors. Say maybe those people like in a haunted house and that was their pet rat.

I can't say that I would not try to avoid running over the critter. I usually try to avoid hitting any of them. The person who passed you was rude but maybe they thought you ran over a cat or dog? Sometimes you just can't help it.

Well I do not like rodents, so I don't blame you. I think I would of ran it over as well. That other driver was just a jerk.

Well, I don't see much wrong about killing a rat. If it had been a dog or somebody's pet animal that might be different. I guess, nowadays, when more people are killing more people everywhere and we are encouraging abortion and euthanasia the killing of rats would be a despicable thing. What do you think ?

yeah disease spreaders:P

I have no idea, in one sense the rat could have been dangerous, I just don't have any real opinion on this one

I can so relate with your daughter , one of my children started her first year on Wednesday and it was a very hard day for me . I was fine putting her on the bus but when the bus pulled away and I had got my pictures ( I had to take pictures of her first day ) , I couldn't help the tears . I walked back up to the house with my little one not yet in school and figured she would be upset to be the only one left at home but it didn't seem to phase her at all . It was clearly only Mommy who was in the least bit upset as my daughter was beyond excited to be starting her first day and my other daughter loved the idea of being home alone with Mommy for the day lol . I for the life of me can not figure out why someone would have reacted that way when you ran over the rat . I would have done the same thing in your situation . I love animals but a rat is no animal and not only is dirty and carries many diseases but dangerous to be around , so one less in the world , is no loss !! Clearly he didn't realize it was a rat you had hit lol . I have to tell you a funny story though as you said you never heard of anyone cuddling or loving a rat before . There was an older woman who had a hard time seeing and she was waiting to board a plane when she felt something rub up against her leg . She reached over to pet the creature certain it was a cat . Her vision was very much impaired and she thought she was holding a stray and decided to keep it . She hid it somewhere ( not sure where ) so that she could take it on the plane with her to take home as a pet . She managed to do this and carried it with her the whole trip , when she went to board off the plane , a security peson rushed over to her to take the rat from her . Knowing that she was not able to see well and realizing that she thought she was holding a stray they didn't want to startle her and therefore her startle the rat who seemed quite content to be held and petted like a kitten , and then have it attack her . Some how they managed to get the rat from her and then told explained to her that she had taken a rat with her on a plane . She was upset to lose her pet but was horrified that she had just held a rat for the last couple of hours on a plane . This is a story my mother told me when I was younger and she swears it really happened to someone in our area years ago . Must have been before laws were as strict on planes and they didn't check everything as no one be able to make the same mistake today as they would be noticed right away try to take a rat across the border :)

I think the guy who gave you the finger was a rat. I accidentally ran over a squirrel once and felt awful about it for a long time thereafter, but all I have to do to feel no compassion for a rat is to think of the little children who live in rat-infested tenements around the world and have horrible sores from rat bites all over them. Now do you feel better?

well, thank you for your honesty. but i want your honesty during that time that it did happen..maybe the best thing you could do right now is to tell to the person involved honestly... hmmm