How a squirrel-related incident helped a pair of students realize how fragile life is
Squirrels are a well-known part of the UC Davis community. They run around our campus with us, often narrowly missing the underside of our bike tires. This is not because we attempt to hit them, but because they are dumb, and they don’t realize that death is just around the corner for us all.
The Aggie talked to some students who recently saw one of these famous Davis squirrels drinking out of a puddle on campus. One of these students was Ellie Robbins, a fourth-year neurobiology, physiology and behavior major and self-proclaimed “vegan icon.”
“I had just finished having an epic stare-down with a crack in the pavement that I tripped on when I looked up and saw the squirrel drinking out of the puddle,” Robbins said. “I saw a lot of me in that squirrel. I, like the squirrel, drink water on occasion. I could also tell that the squirrel was really enjoying life, right up until the moment that a biker came and squashed it like a grape. RIP. It really reminded me that we’ll all die someday, and it could be in a really random and even horrific way, and I think that’s beautiful.”
A friend of Robbins, Grimry Per, a fourth-year biological sciences major, also witnessed the incident.
“I’m a pretty dark person in general, and so it was nice to see the squirrel just having a good time,” Per said. “There is a lot of cuteness in the world, not just death. And even though there was a lot of blood when the squirrel was run over, I don’t know, there was still something cute about it. I hope my death is that cute.”
The campus squirrels can serve a similar purpose to a lot of students at UC Davis, often providing a much-needed distraction from some of the darker thoughts that college students are prone to.
But the squirrels of Davis deserve to be appreciated, not just as a distraction, but as a spectacle within themselves. We as students deserve the mental energy to view them without experiencing looming thoughts of despair.
So it’s important to remember that UC Davis provides a lot of resources for students who may be struggling with mental health issues, squirrel-related or not. But let’s be honest, most problems in this world are squirrel related. It’s just the truth. Death is coming.
Written by: Brian Landry — bjlandry@ucdavis.edu
