Driving home this morning after another long night of work on a very busy road in the city, I came across a curiosity this late in the summer. Speeding just a bit as I normally do on my way home just to get to my bed, I saw a grouping of something ahead in the road. Luckily, I came up to a red light and I could get a better view of the spectacle slowly crossing the street. As the light turned green I did not let off my brake. Neither did the traffic heading in the opposite direction. The cars behind me did not blow their horn as they saw the deadlock despite the light being green.
Right in the middle of this 5 lane road, packed full of morning commuters, was a momma mallard, in tow were at least 10 little ducklings. I say this is a curiosity not because we have never seen ducks here, in fact they are quite common here in the city, but because here it is August, and there are a bunch of little ducklings still yellow in color.
What amazed me the most though, is that here is this tiny little creature, with her even tinier babies, right in the middle of all these monsters weighing hundreds of times more then she does, their engines snarling at her as she crosses the street, and she never gives thought to abandoning her babies. Her motherly instinct is so strong that she would risk her life for her offspring.
Now I know what you are thinking...why are you talking about such an insignificant event. Living in the city, it seems each and everyday there are monsters in this city who kill, beat, rob or abuse a child. It saddens me that they treat their own species with such disdain. People will rob you for the tiny little amount of money that you may have in your pocket. There are mothers and fathers who beat their kids, burn them with cigarettes, throw them across the room, to the point of permanent damage or worse, death. I just don't see how a person can treat another human being with such disrespect.
And then...on the other side of the spectrum...this tiny creature, with her tiny little brain, risking everything, moving defiantly, just to give her babies a better life on the other side of the street.
As they made their way up to the sidewalk, I released the brakes made my way home and slept soundly. I thought about that duck all the way home and her insanely strong instinct to take care of her children. I wish all human parents had the same instinct as that momma duck.
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