6 | JUNE 10 • 2021 

A

s I started my day one 
Sunday morning, my 
first instinct was to 
look away when I drove toward 
an opossum and several babies 
that lay dead on 
my street cor-
ner. Something 
made me slow 
down and take 
another look. I 
was shocked — 
the mother was 
clearly dead, but 
her stomach was moving up 
and down.
I called my brother who 
trains and rescues wild ani-
mals, and he reminded me 
that opossums are marsupials 
and they carry their babies in 
pouches like kangaroos. He 
assured me it wouldn’t bite, so 
I dashed home, put on a pair of 
plastic gloves and went back to 
the bloody scene.

I tentatively reached inside 
the mother’s pouch — and 
this little pink nose poked out, 
followed by a pair of beady, 
inquisitive eyes! The baby made 
a little sneezing sound and I 
was afraid that meant there was 
some sort of problem. Turns 
out, that’s the noise they make. 
She was just saying hi.
My husband drove to my 
brother’s house while I cra-
dled the scared little girl in 
my hand, keeping her warm 
and talking to her, hoping to 
soothe her after what must’ve 
been an incredibly traumatic 
experience. My brother said she 
looked to be about four weeks 
old and appeared in good 
health.
Leaving her in good hands, 
I said goodbye to the little fur 
ball I named Millie — because 
it’s a one in a million chance 
that she survived what was 

obviously a car accident that 
killed her mother and siblings.
I continue checking on Millie 
almost daily, and my brother 
tells me she’s doing just fine. I’m 
dying to go visit her, but he says 
that’s not what’s best for her. She 
doesn’t need humans cuddling 
her; she needs to get reaccli-
mated to the wild so she can go 
out and live the life that’s meant 
for her and, hopefully, have a 
bunch of little joeys someday.
In the larger scheme of 
things, what is one baby opos-
sum worth? Maybe not much 

to most people, but I think it’s 
everything. There are a lot of 
things in this world that aren’t 
within our power to change — 
but sometimes all you have to 
do is take a little time and care 
a little bit, and you can make a 
difference, however slight. There 
is at least one of God’s creatures 
that will live to see another day 
because someone cared.
Please don’t think I’m trying 
to make myself out to be a hero 
because I’m not. I just wanted to 
share how absolutely wonderful 
it feels when you do a mitzvah 
and take the time to help some-
one or something that really 
needs it and see the fruits of 
your efforts. There is no better 
reward in the world. 

Lynn Rosenthal is a Detroit-area 
freelance writer who has spent 
two decades in the legal field and 
co-authored a book The Sadist, 
the Hitman and the Murder of Jane 
Bashara with her husband, George 
Hunter, a police/crime reporter for the 
Detroit News.

Lynn 
Rosenthal

Millie the opossum

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1942 - 2021

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essay
A Small Mitzvah

