After years in the Internet trenches, it takes a good deal to knock the wind out of me and actually make me pause what I’m doing and reflect. So when my eyes fell upon an image so transcendant, so pure and so unwaveringly relatable, I had to bring it to you, my dearest Her Campus readers.
And it’s this raccoon.
Found, flanked by two half-eaten slices of bread, on Thursday morning by Police officers in the city of Zion, Illinois, this raccoon had reportedly “been eating a little too well and got caught in the sewer grate.” With a little bit of help from his new police officer pals and the Zion Public Works Department officers they called (because the critter was that large), the relatable lil raccoon was freed.
Who among us haven’t almost buckled under the weight of our own hubris by doing just a little bit too much? Right. But, remember, he came out triumphant and, arguably, stronger for it (if that smize is any indication.)
Regardless of where you stand on the great raccoon debate (are they adorable little wizards or unholy cat-dog monsters with creepy little hands?), I defy you to look at this little chump, squished into the sewer grate like a comically old-timey bandit who regrets nothing and not have some kind of visceral reaction.
Look closer, just look at his little face, and how he probably knows “yeah, maybe I done effed up a little bit” but still lets that smug smile linger. Because on that day, he ate like a king. He was a contender. That bread looks amazing.
Granted, in the age of tagging your friends in depression memes, there are frequent moments where you’ll see a raccoon or a very sad bird or someone in a Shrek outfit and feel that wholly spiritual “it me” connection. Yet, I feel like I do have the authority to say that nothing on this green earth is as you (or me) than this raccoon.
TL;DR: Please just always remember that moments after being fished out of his sewer prison, this raccoon scurried off “no worse for wear” and presumably hit up another raging trash can smorgasbord a few blocks away. If he can do that, so can you.