And On The Other Hand...

...from 2012: What's the 'Real' Truth?: 'Banker Saves s Dozen Ducklings From a Ledge - ABC News…in case you haven't seen this :) - J'

Jean Hedges reposts here a video story from Apr. 27, 2012.  I recall seeing this before.  And, I recall something else, from the scrapbook of Life on The Planet… 

(You will note that she reverses the 'normal' chronological order of her posters, to most recent first.)

4 Responses to Banker Saves a Dozen Ducklings From a Ledge—ABC News . . . in case you haven’t seen this :) ~J

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• Clara says:
  May 29, 2013 at 7:18 pm
  This was heart warming to watch and it didn’t hurt hearing a few notes of Nat King Cole’s “What a wonderful world” My daughters choice for her father daughter dance at her wedding. Got two feel good moments from this one.
  
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• kibitzer3 says:
  Your comment is awaiting moderation. 
• May 30, 2013 at 12:22 am 
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  That was Satchmo, Clara. I trust that you’re of a vintage to know who that was…
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  And to rain on everybody else’s parade just a little bit; but for accuracy’s sake: There has to be some question as to whether the mother would raise them, with the human scent on them. Nature is, well, funny sometimes; and not as in ha-ha. An example that comes directly to mind, from watching this admittedly heart-warming story: A nature documentary showing a mother duck leading her obviously newly-hatched brood, of ab. 8 ducklings, in a line in a stream, and the last one is having a hard time keeping up. The mother went back and gave him a peck; but it didn’t do the job. There was obviously something wrong with the little tyke. Mom wasn’t going to have anything to do with it: She went back again and gave the duckling a few more pecks, and harder this time. I think this went on for another crack at the problem, before she really gave it to the unfortunate little being; letting Li’l Straddler know that he wasn’t welcome in her care. She swam back to the front of the train, and took off, with the others in tow; leaving Li’l Straddler dead in the water. Not literally. Yet…
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  My heart broke for the little tyke when I watched it. But that’s Nature. She knew what she could do, and what she couldn’t do. And trying to include Li’l Straddler wasn’t in her picture.
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  Not nice. Not furry little ball cute. But that’s life.
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  And I’m not one to wait for every one of us li’l human tykes to ‘get it’, and move up with the rest of us. We’ve got work to do; our contracts with ourselves to fulfill, and the whole galaxy to shed its downy stage. If you’re not ready to move up, you have another place to go to. Your choice. 
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  That’s life.
  
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• Gayle says:
  May 29, 2013 at 5:50 pm
  At last a banker with a good heart! Great Job! I love it.
  
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• js says:
  May 29, 2013 at 2:54 pm
  Thanks Jean
  Good Man, Good Heart !!
  
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• maziemiles says:
  May 29, 2013 at 1:58 pm
  Bravo Duck Man!
  
  
• ---

'Root, little hog, or die.'  I remember my eighth grade General Science teacher saying that, as a lesson in life, that it was obvious that she took very much to heart.  She was not a Pretty Woman, was rather frumpy, in fact; short and fat; and it was, as I say, obvious that she had learned what she was going to have to do to survive in this life.  And good on her - she had become a good teacher, of science.  She certainly helped to inspire me to take seriously the learning that we could get from 'science' - from the world around us.  

I have forgotten your name, Ma'am (except the 'Miss' part).  I think it was Miss Hines; as best as I can recall.  But little matter: the salient point is that as a seeker of Truth, I salute you.

(Why does the liquid come up the straw when you suck on it.  Because that is not the action that causes it.  The air pressure pushes the liquid up the straw when you create a vacuum in your mouth.  'Very good, Duane.'...)

A footnote here, just recalled.  One of my friends was always trying to match, or even outdo, me in class grades.  I was the classic fair-haired boy - complete with golden blond mane (which bleached even further out in the summer sun*) - and studied hard, to get good grades, and 'prove' myself somehow, that way; though I don't think it was out of ego.  I just wanted to perform to my best.  Anyway, in Miss Missed classes we kept work journals of our daily lessons, which I meticulously indented the way that she showed us how to: an index finger's breadth for the first indentation, marking the point with a period, and then another, and so on, up to about 4 indentations, as I recall.  I mention this, because I think it was my neat little lined-up rows of periods on the pages - rather than simply guessing at the indentations,  which perhaps some of the other kids did - that caught her attention, besides my correct responses to the sentences with their missing words or figures that we had to fill in.  My point is that the day came when my little friend - who was in one of her other classes - came up to me on the playground and proudly announced that he had gotten an A+ from Miss What's-her-name on his journal; and what had I gotten?  I remember the look on his face when I replied, honestly, and simply, that I had gotten an A++.  

     Sometimes you just can't win.

     But life's like that.  

     You - one - might as well get used to it.
     And make the most of what you've got.
     (Right, Miss Rooting Little Hog??  Did I get that one correct, too???)


* There was a montage film taken around this time of some of us Boy Scouts, preparing for summer camp, and in a small group shot I was startled about this about myself.  The Golden Boy indeed.
     This may have been why I was given, a number of times, some deference in my youth.  But all that is perhaps for another time.