My book begins with "Mama Duck and Her Six Ducklings Find a Greener Puddle."  Whilst this is a story based on an actual happening, the book elaborates on having something other than herd mentality.  This short chapter will be rewritten.  The little story will remain but how I present the the points I derive from the story will be completely redone.  When I wrote it, I probably needed to do some thinking rather than writing.  It just did not come out very well.

I will retain the Duckling story.  As for the rest...time to try again.

In essence, this is about human domestication.  Whether we like it or not, most of us have been subjected to this program.  A few thoughts on this after my little story.  It happened one day after work...

Here begins the text... 

Mama Duck and Her Six Ducklings Find a Greener Puddle

The hallmark of that day occurred at the city bus transfer station. It were as though Nature herself was teaching a lesson for me... just for me... It isn't that I have already learned this lesson but it certainly serves as a vivid reminder.

It had been fixing to rain all afternoon - another thing that had me up in arms about employment. In Florida there are the daily thunderstorms that occur almost like clockwork in the summer months. Going home after work often entailed playing Russian Roulette with the weather. My workday was capped off with a soaking from a heavy rain waiting for the shuttle to the transfer station.

Not long after the shuttle left me off at the transfer station I noticed a mother duck and her six ducklings crossing the narrow street, in front of where my bus comes, to a puddle near the curb. I carefully counted the ducklings several times to be sure how many there were for they were moving about in the puddle quite profusely. Why I counted them I really couldn't tell you - I guess it was something to do whilst waiting for the bus. A thought went through my mind, "How they just go through life without a care in the world...just keep a watchful eye for predators, eat and splash around in puddles." Little did I know these ducks were about to provide the backdrop for this book...

As they paddled around in that puddle my mind was impressed by the ducklings as they followed the mother to the puddle. Evidently the grass was greener on the other side of the fence and the mother waddled out of the puddle and made for another one. Between the sidewalk from which they had come, and the puddle to which they were headed, is a classic Roman-type fence (which happens to have green paint) made of steel bar stock, up off the ground about an inch and a half.

Mama Duck had jumped up and over the bottom rail of the fence and headed for the nice puddle on the lawn, followed by the first duckling behind her. I watched as the rest followed suit. The second duckling in the line had a problem getting up over the rail and tried two or three times whilst the third one got up over the rail. Before the fourth duckling jumped up onto and over the rail the second one finally made it over and joined the others at the puddle. The fifth duckling's performance was like that of the second one. It had a hard time getting up over the rail, but with difficulty, in three or four tries, it scrambled up over the rail and went its way to the puddle.

The last duckling which lagged behind the rest, to my surprise simply and effortlessly ducked its little head and neck and went under the rail.

I looked around. Nobody else was paying any attention to the ducks. But there is a great lesson in life here. I know I am looking at this from a human standpoint, but I saw what, in human terms, would be conformity in the making with first five ducklings that followed the example of the mother. Each one carried on towards that puddle having done what it was "supposed" to do. Two of them had utmost difficulty because of their small size gaining a foothold up and over the wet slippery painted steel. Perhaps they all struggled, but that three of them were fortunate to have accomplished the feat on the first attempt, it took almost unprecedented effort and unnecessary struggling, on the part of two, perhaps all five ducklings, to follow Mama Duck to overcome the obstacle.

FINIS

There are points to be made from this little story...

• Mediocrity
• The Human Domestication Program
• Tie-in between the duck, her ducklings and how it applies to us humans.

These elements are already in the text that follows but the way it's written just didn't cut it.

That's it for today... any thoughts after having read the above?