The Longest Road

When a traveller recently came across a newborn lamb clinging to the side of her dead sibling, with gathering darkness and the threat of predators closing in, they knew they could not simply drive on.

On that lonely stretch of road, it could well have been no man’s land. And so, doing what kindness so often does, they gently gathered the newborn into their arms and continued the long journey home.

Tipping the scales, and our hearts, at almost six kilograms, K Pop is the largest newborn lamb to arrive at Edgar’s Mission this year. Lambs of such considerable birthweight can face a difficult passage into the world, and we can only imagine the challenges surrounding her first fragile moments.

From the moment she arrived, K Pop was a frightened little waif. Tall, though not in the way of someone who knows they are, but in the way of someone still growing into themselves, lanky, awkward and beautifully naïve, yet to find her place in the world.

Though these days, she has found it alongside her teachers, who have also become her dearest friends: Mary Poppins, Mister Pop Over, Lolly Pop and dear little Pop Tart.

Together, they race across the paddock with all the carefree delight of children dancing around a playground, reminding us there is surely something deeper than biology that binds young hearts together.

Yet the world is stacked against lambs like K Pop from the beginning. One label—farm animal—is often enough to justify their use while quietly asking us to suspend our ethics.

But labels have a curious way of disappearing when we take the time to know someone.

For although K Pop began life upon the longest road imaginable, she has found the shortest route to our hearts.