Bumped into this little fellow while out for a walk this morning. He (she? I can never tell) was paddling along with a group of about a dozen duckies, enjoying the stillness of a sunny summer's day.
It's precisely the kind of peaceful image I'd like to keep in my figurative back pocket, saving it for the day and time when the comings and goings of the a world too busy to stop and notice would otherwise render me unable to appreciate a simple, quiet scene like this.
I hope such a day never comes. But if it does, I'll have a duck to thank for teaching me that there's a better way to live.
Your turn: What lessons have you learned (or could you learn) from a duck? Don't limit yourself...ducks can be great educators if we let them!
"There's power in numbers", "always look calm even when paddling like hell below the surface", and "some things you have to let roll off your back" come to mind... =)
ReplyDeleteDucks have a natural instinct to just "get up and go" when they migrate. I think that's a good lesson to be learned.
ReplyDeleteLet trouble like rainfall, fall off your back
ReplyDeleteA duck taught me that being yourself isn't important--if you feel badly on the inside, become a swan on the outside and all will be wonderful!
ReplyDeleteMy dad has always said that a duck has the right idea in times of trouble: stay calm on the surface but paddle like there is no tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteI love to watch the mother duck with her babies all lined up in a row behind her, walking across the street, stopping traffic. Would that we had children that eager to behave. ;)
Where we used to live there was a park and a pond in the middle of town and they would have duck crossings at various places. And, it was weird seeing the ducks cross at the correct crossings. It was like they 'knew'.
ReplyDeleteLove the image, Carmi, and I cannot come up with anything better than others already have.
ReplyDeleteI'm just gonna go with the first thing that comes to mind when I think of animals in nature. That is the fact that patience is a virtue.
ReplyDeleteOf course I also could say I learned to crap like nobody was watching, but somehow that doesn't seem nearly as poetic.:)
Bird lesson - pretty colored, bright featers = male. Dull, muted tones = female. I will now call my friend who used to run a chapter of the Audobon Society and tell him I remembered something he said. He'll be proud.
ReplyDeleteDucks have taught me that sometimes I need to just paddle around aimlessly.
learned from a duck...
ReplyDeleteAlways cross the road with your mom. It's safer.
~S