I Wanna Be Wanna Be Wanna Be Like...a Duck

I know right?  Who'd want to be like a duck?  We should all be so fortunate.

I was once compared to the duck.  I was thrown back(aka caught by surprise) and even slightly insulted.  Oh I've been compared to many an animal species.  When standing in bathroom stalls after doing  my business and my head pops up over the top of the stall door it's been said I'm like a giraffe in the zoo - and I chuckle when I think about that comment.  It does have to look comical to others making the observation. I was called a cow during one ball game when I boxed out three members of the other team to get the rebound.  When set it was difficult to move me and I have to thank a good coach for teaching me that stance.  Yeah...well, cow or no..I got the ball and you didn't, young grasshopper.  Been referred to as a Daddy Long Legs - don't know where they got that one.  38 inch inseam is common is it not?  No?  That explains why jeans are so hard to find.  But a duck?  A duck?  For the real?

I'm not fond of fowl...not even a little bit, not even at all.  When referring to the Albatross in prior posts it was the only uncoordinated animal I could think of -granted the albatross is graceful in flight...on the ground not so much.  If the Albatross were as uncoordinated in flight as it is on the ground, there'd be no Albatross to compare to.  It's the justice of nature, I suppose.  (there's the randomness again...just pops up outta nowhere, doesn't it?) Anyway, I'm not fond of fowl.  Thus of all the animals to have been compared to, a duck was the most surprising and at the time I didn't see how I was even close to the choice of many a Christmas dinner.

The one who compared me to a duck was one of my closest college friends.  She hailed from New York.  You recall how I mentioned I was backward?  Coming from New York into Colorado she felt pretty backward -even lost at times (or maybe she thought we were backwards and lost).  She was a barrel racer and stayed in line all night after a Vince Gill concert just to let him know they did exist.  He'd made a comment during the concert that went something like "it just doesn't happen, like a barrel racer from New York".  Vince is a good guy, though, and after being introduced to a barrel racer from New York he welcomed the revelation with his infamous smile and signed his 'thank you' on her album.

It was she that compared me to a duck and she holds the title of being the only one to EVER refer me as such.  The reference to the duck was just one of many lessons I learned from my New York barrel racing buddy.

First semester college was something else.  I was taking 18 credit hours, playing volleyball, maintaining a high gpa, and trying to keep up with the craziness of dorm life.  It was interesting to say the least and still I was...different from everyone else.  I can't recall exactly what had happened, what had been said, or what had been done.  A LOT happens in college, you know.  Anyway, I remember turning to her and she saying those words, "Shorty, you're like a duck."  Never wanting to look stupid for not understanding I said, "Thanks" and smiled so she wouldn't see my confusion.  She responded with a "You don't know why do you?"  To which I had to honestly reply, "Yeah...of course I do...it's because..." *sigh*  "No...no I don't know why."  I had all my teeth, I didn't play hockey (of course I was thinking about the movie), and I didn't fly south for the winter.  So why a duck?  Of ALL things, a duck.

She then educated me on the worth of the duck and the lessons learned from the lowly water fowl.  The lesson is as follows:

When water hits a duck it rolls right off without affecting the duck's direction at all.  No matter whether it be a drop of water or a bucket of water, nothing of the fluid remains on the duck. It's as though nothing at all happened to the duck.  Its path and character remain unchanged. In a storm it is the last of the creatures to take up refuge from the weather.  Why?  Because the duck isn't affected by the onslaught of the storm.  The storm water and wind just roll right off the back and into the wake of the cruising fowl.  The duck's head is held high and its path, as it treads water, is ahead of it.  It even seems pleased in the solitude of  bearing the storm.  Further more, in domestic ducks, it can be noticed that when water from a hose is sprayed on them they do not turn and run as many an animal will.  You spray a dog or cat and they drop their head and tuck their tails and flee but not a duck.  A duck will actually turn into the spray of water, raise up as tall as it can and puff out its chest.  Its head remains high while it receives the pummeling of H2O.  It doesn't fight back, it doesn't run, it just takes the brunt of the blow.  Then, when the spraying subsides, it does as ducks will do.  It gives a little shake of its feathers and continues on with its path unaffected by the hosing.

I don't recall if I had been worth the compliment back then and I don't know if I have been worthy of the comparison since but now as I recall the conversation, I am sure I want to be more like a duck.  I want life's storms to wash right off my back rather than build up on it, causing it to bow or even break.  I want to let things go as a duck will the water.  I want to be able to turn and face the onslaught of life's pummeling with my head up, shoulders back.  Then - when it is finished - I want to shake it off and continue on my path unaffected at all by the attack.  That's not to say there won't be times fighting back won't be necessary.  Any one who's ever faced an angry duck knows their capable of hostility but it's usually in defense of their little ones or their home.  Hostility, is the last possible resort for the duck.  When it's all said and done, their anger - like everything else duck related - is quickly shaken  and forgotten.

The highly educated might say it's because they are simple minded animals and do not have a greater understanding of what is happening to them.  They let go because they do not grasp the need to hold on.  A shame we human beings in all our complexity can't do something so simple as let go.  Maybe the duck - in all it's simplicity - really has it going on.

So there you have it.  I wanna be, wanna be, wanna be like...a duck.