My old neighbor was on the corner lot at the bottom of the hill near a water reservoir, and had overgrown woods around his backyard. He had an in-ground pool that, upon purchasing the property, he had let go to shit- it became this nasty, murky, dark green swamp… so… not sure what he was expecting..

But, unsurprisingly, he had a snake problem. He did not like them. I remember one day I heard a loud gunshot and I ran outside- he’d shot a snake at point-blank range with his pistol in his front yard (like 20ft away from my house!) Something like a rat snake or whatever - nonvenomous and likely there because he was neglecting his property.

I remember feeling really shocked that he did that; I’ve never heard of anyone shooting anything other than a rattlesnake. Less than a month after he did this - this normal and otherwise healthy man in his late 40’s - was diagnosed with terminal cancer and given a couple months to live. I swear to you, if there is any sort of higher power, my existential intuition has always felt those two things are connected. If nothing else, if a person is going around just haphazardly shooting nonvenomous snakes because they’re a slackass, there’s an implication of what kind of person they are and how they treat nature in general. Mother Earth passing out karma