Duck watching has taught me a lot about life. Right now, I am watching several waddle up to wait for food. You see I've trained them to expect it because I was ignorant about ducks. It has taken me several years to realize how "I" have crippled them and taken away their desire to fly very far. Yes, my ducks are fully capable of flying away but they don't and now it makes me sad.
Watching them come waddling up made me smile in the beginning. It felt good to be needed and loved by these feathered friends. I raised some of them from day old babies, but the majority have never been touched by me. Their mothers are teaching them to come for a daily feeding just as they were taught by their mothers. I have four generations roaming my property right now.
My ducks are Muscovy ducks. A lot of people consider them ugly with their red caruncles on their faces but I love them and their silly personalities. Muscovy ducks are also quiet, quackless ducks. Their speech sounds like a gentle hiss but you can tell when their feathers get ruffled over something. They really are very humorous to watch.
I have one Buff Orpington duck that quacks and she tends to speak for the group. I can hear her from a mile away. She is the matriarch of this group despite having no kinship to them. She tells me loudly that they are hungry and want to be fed every day and several times a day if I am willing to listen. As I watch her approach with the others trailing behind, I'm irritated. It has rained a lot and the grasses are tall and full of delicious creatures they should be munching on rather than whole kernel corn and cheap dog food I feed them. In nature, they adore all kinds of bugs, worms and insects that destroy a yard and trees. But, I have created a group of dependent and self-helpless ducks that will never know what it means to hunt for food that is much healthier for them than what I'm giving them.
We don't eat our ducks and despite the fact I feed them food that isn't as healthy as what they would find in nature, they should have very long lives because I've also got a huge white dog that guards them day and night. So why am I worried about them?
I worry because I'm not always here to take care of them. I worry that they will get hungry when I leave for days to go on a trip. I worry what will become of them if we ever move because I can't catch them to move them with me. I've tried, they fly or go off into the pond. I have one with "angel wing" because he wasn't getting the right nutrition and if I could catch him I could help him but so far he has eluded me. His condition is my fault. His mother brought him to eat, rather than teaching him to find natural foods and I didn't buy the duckling food 'just for a couple of ducklings.' I really thought they didn't need it. I learned my lesson the hard way and now I buy the right food for all the new growing ducklings but I still feel guilty.
What happens if they are still alive and I am gone? Who will care for them? Not everyone likes ducks and there aren't many people who like these "ugly" ducklings. Sure, someone may want them but not to enjoy their silly ways. They are considered the best tasting ducks.
There are people like my ducks, I realize. They are dependent upon others to feed them. They don't know what it's like to fly even though they have wings and can fly very easily. Their parents have taught them to look to others rather than learning how to fend for themselves. They are missing out on some of the greatest experiences in life - learning to be who they truly are because someone like me interfered with Gods great plans and designs for their life.
I'm not saying you should never feed a duck. I'm not saying you shouldn't help anyone in need of help. I'm saying that if you help too much or give for too long, you are endangering their lives. Your desire to help is wonderful but you can do too much, for too long and take away someone's desire to fly. You can cripple someone by feeding your need to feel needed. You can teach generations to be dependent, needy and self-helpless by interfering in their natural and instinctive ability to learn how to truly be who they were intended to be. There is a good reason and great wisdom in the term Mother Nature. She is called Mother Nature because we are supposed to look to her (nature) for wisdom and to learn how to live our lives.
So, the next time you see a waddling (well-fed) duck, don't feed it. There might still be a chance that they can find the desire within them to fly.
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