Feeding Ducks

It was a bright weekday morning, just past 7. I was strolling through a park before a volunteer session at a food pantry. My route would take me past a creek, athletic fields, ducks, geese, trees, squirrels and a homeless encampment with several piles of garbage that boggled the mind with its weird variety.

Something caught my eye as I walked along the former wading pool now turned duck pond posted with signs telling people not to feed the birds.

To my left, I espied an older woman wearing pajama bottoms and a hoodie tossing bread to ducks in the pond and the grass. There must have been 15 or so ducks following her as she walked in circles.

Even from a distance, I could see her smiling and talking to the ducks.

It was obvious to me that she was living in the homeless encampment I would be traversing in a matter of seconds. Regular morning walkers in my upscale neighborhood don’t dress like this and they certainly follow the rules when it comes to feeding the birds.

My heart stirred at the woman’s defiance of the rules. She was out of her tent or RV or pallet shanty in the early morning on a fine day and communing with birds.

Tiny moments like this keep me buoyed, and inspire hope. I report them to you and others via conversation in the belief that such moments are worth sharing, and can serve as a foundation for contemplation and yes, even concerted action.