4 deaths examined.

death one
i was about 3 or 4 years old and playing outside near a large tree. somehow i used a styro-foam cup to trap a grasshopper. later i was climbing in the tree and i saw the cup below. i remember thinking, "what if i jump on the cup?" the veiled answer was of course that it would kill the grasshopper. i jumped. when i pulled the crushed cup back, it indeed killed the grasshopper. i remember being appalled at the wicked thing i had just done and i ran into the house crying and confessed to my mom.

death two
as a teenager, we found a baby bird that fell from its nest. we put it in the yard in a brown paper bag (shaped like a nest) hoping the mama bird would come and take care of it. watching from the window we someone noticed a cat approaching the baby bird. i ran outside to chase it away from the bird. when returning from the chase i looked back at the window and noticed my mother looking at the ground behind me with an alarmed look on her face. I looked back. apparently i had stepped on the baby bird in its man-made nest and killed it. i was sick with my own stupidity. i dont recall if i cried or just felt like crying.

death three
recently, in a hotel i noticed a mouse stuck to a sticky tape trap. it was still alive squirming and trying to get off. there was feces there too so he must have been there for a while. i picked it up and went to the bathroom so my wife would not see. examining it closely, i noticed it was stuck hard to the tape. i tried to pull him lose but it appeared that any effort by me to remove him would tear him apart or at least skin him alive. i decided to kill the mouse to prevent its prolonged suffering. i decided to quickly drown him in the sink which i did. he heaved a couple of times bringing water into his lungs then he stopped moving.

death four
a few weeks ago, I looked in the garage noticed a black snake coiled up and resting just outside the door near our flip-flops. he was about 1 foot long. i decided to remove him rather than killing him. i put on a pair of leather work gloves and pinned him. unfortunately the thickness of the gloves prevented me from then picking him up as i adjusted my position to leverage picking him up, he was freed enough to strike which he tried to do. mouth open and fangs bared he went to latch on to my gloved thumb. before he could though i used the thumb to crush his head against the wall.

so which is the most contemptable killing and which is the least?