Granville Island: A Duck's Worst Nightmare

Okay, so I really didn't feel like beginning my week with a rant, but unfortunately, a seemingly innocent family gathering I happened to spy yesterday while strolling around Granville Island has cast a dark cloud on my Monday.

There I was, enjoying a tasty beverage and pondering, by the pond, when a woman and child arrived to watch the ducks. Now I will admit, ducks don't really do it for me. I mean, don't get me wrong, I enjoy wildlife as much as the next person, give me a puppy or a kitten or a baby goat, and I'm in cute baby animal heaven, but birds, I can take 'em or leave 'em. That doesn't mean that I don't respect their need to exist and appreciate their role in our delicately balanced natural world, I just wouldn't have one as a pet. Seeds would get everywhere, it would wake me up every morning way too early, no thank you.

What really sticks in my craw however, is how this particular woman felt the need to allow her eight-year-old child to pitch rocks the size of my fist at the poor, unsuspecting ducks trying to enjoy a leisurely Sunday afternoon in their comfortable - yet heavily encroached upon - natural habitat. I mean, this little terror actually had good aim too, there were ducks getting pelted left and right.

As if this wasn't enough of a horrible spectacle, each hit elicited a squeal of pleasure from both the child and her mother. It was sick. Usually, I try to avoid confrontation, but I could not in good conscience let this continue. I walked right up to the little girl and with as much self-restraint as I could muster asked her if she didn't think it was a bad idea to be hitting the ducks with rocks and causing them what I can only describe as obvious discomfort due to the amount of down/feathers that now filled the air and water surrounding the ducks. She immediately shifted her eyes downward and hid her rock-laden hands behind her back, actions I took as acknowledgment of wrong-doing. I turned to go, pleased with fact that I had successfully rectified the situaltion, selflessly, for the ducks.

You won't believe what happened next. The mother starts screaming at me to leave her daughter alone! Screaming! Really, it's not like I had walked up and started shaking the kid or anything (I won't say the thought hadn't crossed my mind though), I didn't yell or raise my voice, and here's the mother acting like I was offering her daughter razor-infused apples. I was as shocked as the ducks. People around us actually stopped their rock-free activities to watch this women berate me for talking to her daughter, telling me I should mind my own business. The only thing going through my head while this was happening was 'what's wrong with people?' So my question to you is, 'what's wrong with people?'

photo: www.neulinger.org