hey um idk if anyones said this but
Thinking about how deer are used as a symbol of innocence, beauty, purity, and sometimes femininity, but to kill one and hang its head on a wall is a trophy, a symbol of masculinity and power. When we see a deer in the wild, we see something clean and fragile. Why should men take pride in conquering something that could never defend itself? Why do we value the stripping away of innocence? We never seem to nurture the deer for the good of the species, only to have more game to display above the fireplace. Men brag about the prizes they’ve won over a beer or two, praised and respected by any who enter his home, and move on to a new story as the season ends, but the head on the wall will never move on. The head on the wall is left exactly as it was the day it was taken from its body, watching from above, immortalized, but at what cost? Linked forever to the man who thought he could take it because it was there. Not even a man who, like a rancher, raised it until now, knew it, and prepared it for a greater use, but a man who saw something so perfect and thought his den needed one more pair of eyes, and that was worth a poor creatures one and only life.
