What a complex lot we are!
(And that’s putting it kindly!)
I wasn’t planning to publish a post for today. But then a recent post from Patrice Ayme spurred me to so do.
Let me explain.
Our nearest town, Grants Pass, has the wonderful Rogue River flowing through it and alongside it there is Riverside Park. To quote:
Riverside Park in Grants Pass was set aside by our founders for the enjoyment of our citizens and guests.
People come from all over to Riverside Park to watch the majestic Rogue River as it courses its’ way through our city.
As you can see it is a popular place for ducks and geese.
Last Tuesday, we had a contractor completing some new guttering for the house. Terry, the owner of TC Gutters, ran out of the coated aluminium he was folding into the correct shape using a rather cute machine!
Terry apologised and said that he would need to run back into Grants Pass to pick up some more of the sheeting.
He returned a little later and I went over to chit-chat with him.
He was unexpectedly downcast.
“Terry, is there a problem?”
“Paul, when I was in town, down at the bottom of 6th Street near the bridge, there was a flock of ducks crossing the road.”
Terry paused for quite a while; I stood there next to him with not a clue as to what was coming.
He sighed, and continued: “Instinctively, I slowed down along with a number of other drivers. But what really upset me was the fact that a few drivers were clearly gleefully driving into the ducks and killing them!”
It hurt me to hear that; very much so!
Is it too strong for me to regard those drivers who thought it great fun to drive into those ducks as being evil?
What do you think?
Learning from Dogs 
Evil. When I lived in Ahwatukee, a suburb of Phoenix, I used to walk by a pond that was the home to ducks, swans & geese. There were people who routinely ignored the signs & would run the fowl over. Well, the police started patrolling & that behavior stopped. Karma is very unkind.
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Yuk! So it’s not just a local phenomenon! (Actually, that’s a silly reply from me. For if it can happen in Grants Pass it can happen anywhere in the world!)
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Paul, imo those people who ran over the ducks without the slightest care are definitely evil. Unfortunately, if you look at the amount of needless human-caused suffering in our societies, starting from bullying in school, I believe that at least a third of all people are narcissistic, greedy and self centred and are prepared to lie and cheat to their own advantage regardless of the hurt or unfairness they cause to others.
You just have to look at the treatment of so many domestic pets ( and many farm animals). I would spend every spare cent I had before abandoning a longtime pet to a shelter, yet so many people do it for trivial reasons. And many others hardly walk or interact with their dogs at all or provide them with some comforts.
I would also put hunters in the evil category or more specifically ‘sporting shooters’ who hunt animals where the sport, not the food is the priority. A wild animal, going about its daily foraging suddenly getting a hot painful bleeding hole in its side – and the hunters get a high because of the hit. Sick.
And then there are so many (consistently) negligent parents despite their proclaimed ‘love’ for their children. And when it comes to money matters, disputes and manipulations re inheritances etc – well, the worst in far too many people really comes to the surface.
Particularly in the bigger cities, lack of common courtesy, road rage, impatience and a lack of respect for the elderly seem to have become more common and the days of doing a deal “on a handshake” have definitely gone. ‘Individualism’ on steroids, is a factor.
I’m sure that if society were to totally break down for some reason and it became survival of the fittest, people like that would do ok, whereas I would surely fail.
Of course, thank Dog, there are many good people around, like Terry, yourselves (and your blog readers). But I’m sure that disillusionment with their fellow human beings is a big reason why good people get depressed and why they love and value their dogs so much.
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Dear, dear Margaret, thank you! Thank you for your sensitivity, for your caring, and for your love of animals, especially for all the dogs in the world!
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That’s not complex behaviour. It’s just sick.
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No question, John. Sick with a capital ‘S’!
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Evil. and ignorant. People have become insensitive and uneducated – simply uncaring. These people who find glee in harming innocents and those weaker than themselves are becoming a larger blot in our world.
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Stacey, a very warm welcome to this place and thank you for your response. It’s a shame that your first reply, hopefully not your last, was to such a terrible window on our world.
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I’m truly concerned about the human race. I know that there have been sick people around since the beginning of time but it doesn’t make it easier to see happening. I’ve seen our freeway come to a complete stop up here in Portland as we waited for the geese to clear the roadway. But you still see them dead on occasion. It always breaks my heart as they mate for life. So sorry to hear and maybe someone will report those that did such a monstrous thing.
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I didn’t realize you were an Oregon lass. Unless you mentioned it previously and it has slipped through the cracks! Turning to your reply. On our local road, Hugo Road, a rural road some 5 miles long, it’s not uncommon to see a dead deer by the side of the road. Okay, a few deaths unavoidable if a deer darts out right in front of a vehicle. But there’s no question that some drive way too quickly and, presumably, hitting an animal doesn’t enter their minds!
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I’ve lived here for about 6 years now and before that I was in Pinetop AZ and when driving to Phoenix there were always Elk on the road. If you hit one, you didn’t want to do it again. I saw the damage it did to vehicles not to mention the death of the animal. 😦 I was always on alert each time I had to make that trip and so is my son. So far, we been fortunate enough to never hit one. I pray every time I get in a car that I cause not harm to beast or person. It would devastate me. What you do to one, you do to all. We are all connected.
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Yes, everything in life is connected. Indeed, I would go so far as to say that everything in nature, from the health of our planet, to the young creature crossing the strange place we call a road, is connected. And like all networks of connections one small disturbance can lead to profoundly widespread changes.
Wasn’t there a well-known book on the subject of something along the lines of a beat of a butterfly’s wings …..? Please, someone help me out!!
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You are right. That title has been used by many but here is one that may help. I’ve read most of Andy Andrews books and really enjoy the spiritual nature of his stories. Take a peak for yourself.
https://www.simpletruths.com/inspirational-books/the-butterfly-effect.html
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The Butterfly effect in Chaos Theory (plus fractals! 😊)
https://fractalfoundation.org/resources/what-is-chaos-theory/
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Oh, well done!! Thank you!
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WTH?? A society is only as good as it treats its most vulnerable. It would appear from your story we are losing our humanity.
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I would hope not entirely. But I do have this sense that many societies are going through an era of being very lost and that this uncertainty is unsettling for many and one consequence is higher levels of frustration and anger. Just my amateur viewpoint.
Interestingly, a recent edition of The Economist magazine (August 11th, 2018) had an article under the Bagehot banner about Britain. It was called Land of extremes – It’s time to rethink everything we thought we knew about British national character. (p.45)
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I am sorry but I have a very strong opinion of people who purposely hurt animals, where they are wild or pets. People need to be held accountable 100% for the damage they do. If incarceration is needed then part of the containment needs to be involving the person in supervised help in animal rehab. Personally I think they need to be treated the same way they treat the animal but that would cause problems in itself. I am afraid we are getting too self centered and becoming colder in our treatment on animals and people. We are all drifting too far from our first love – the love of Christ that teaches us all the value of life regardless if it a flower, animal or human.
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Anita, we are all drifting too far from love! Period! Whether or not the individual is a follower of a particular religion, and there are 20 major religions around the world, or just acknowledging that our precious planet has to be cared for. Your response was beautiful!
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Thanks Paul for honoring me with suggesting that my essay somewhat inspired you. My essay focused mostly on just one source of evil, idiocy. I alluded, though, that a dark, cruel, vicious, evil side of humanity exists. I would add it exists, because it has a very good reason to: ecological balance.
Not an excuse, though…All the more as the causative mechanism is becoming clear… On a hopeful note, indeed, I have seen the USA’s busiest freeway being stopped because of one female Canada goose, followed by half a dozen ducklings, was laboriously going across ten lanes of traffic…
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Thank you, Patrice. Yes, of course, there is no light without dark, no life without death, et al.
But it still doesn’t mean that we should keep quiet in the face of such blatant cruelty.
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So sad to read this Paul and the update on your next post which I read first..
I wonder where the minds of the human race is going these days.. Anger bubbles over so quickly,, road rage here is something we hardly ever saw, yet now its daily..
I wish people would understand about Karma, and how every action has a re-action.. But that is a subject many of todays population is well out of date with… Its a Sad, Sad World… And about to get even Sadder..
Much love… Will be back to read more posts .. Didn’t realise the time. Tea needs making.. ❤
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Mine’s a black tea; no sugar!! 😉
Seriously, these do feel like very unsettled times. Apart from the madness at my age of looking too far into the future(!), imagining how things will look in just a couple of years seems very difficult. Is it an age thing, or is Western society genuinely lost?
Why do you say it is going to get even sadder?
Ah! That tea does taste good!!
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Paul.. I may email you tomorrow on that one.. Just all the jigsaw pieces now making sense.. Wish they didn’t.. But you have to keep looking UP..
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Agree fully with Sue. These evil acts are part of something that is saddening this planet. Yes, people have forgotten about Karma, but it exists because for every action, there is an opposite and equal reaction.
The act of killing an innocent, regardless of what it is, will result in a reaction from the universe… Everything we do, butterfly effects and all, has a knock on effect. Payback comes, but not always in the expected form. Those people who deliberately ran down the ducks, will have something deliberately done to them and probably from someone they trust. That is how these things work and always will. Humanity just doesn’t know how to connect the dots, because we are pretty stupid really.
Poor ducks! 🦆🦆🦆😢😢😢
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Yes! Fully agree! That old expression comes to mind: “What goes around comes around!”
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Hi Colette.. Good to see you, I did hop along to your blog but you hadn’t posted… I wish more would understand Universal Laws.. There is no escaping them.. And All actions as you say create and opposite and equal reaction.. Cause and Effect.. 🙂 I think about the smallest creatures now-a-days.. ❤
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I’m not religious but I do hope that Karma exists because too many bad people seem to get away with bad deeds and selfish acts – sometimes for their whole lifetimes. I reckon if I lived there and saw someone I knew run over the ducks I might start the karma process by letting down the tyres of their car …..
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If only! I am incredibly grateful for having had a life that has been pretty good to me. But as each year slips by I find it more and more difficult to understand the nature of our human species! “Now’t so queer as folk!”
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