TheBanyanTree: There is hope for the human race

[Roger Pye]

Some years ago when I was very active in environmental care in NSW and 
drove about 30,000 kms a year as a result I was driving from Canberra to 
a meeting in Batemans Bay about 200 kms away, two hours by direct route, 
but more than double the kms and time if one had to take the long way 
round through Cooma as I did that day. Going down Brown Mountain which 
lies between Cooma and the coast the road is twisty and has a number of 
hairpin bends. I was going down there quite quickly, not dangerously so 
but still pretty quick, when I rounded one of these tight bends to be 
faced by Father Wild Duck crossing the road followed by six baby ducks 
and Mother Wild Duck bringing up the rear. I braked for them to pass 
then I pulled over into a layby and watched them waddle away into the 
trees which bordered the road. Not fast, not slow, just comfortable, 
steady and sure in the knowledge they would reach their destination safely.

We can learn a lot from ducks, cranes and other creatures. I thought 
about those ducks a lot as I drove leisurely down the mountain and I 
haven't hurried to a meeting since.

roger

NancyIee at aol.com wrote:
> I was driving in a hurry across town. I had a limited time to run a  few 
> necessary errands before going to a meeting. Traffic was horrendous, and I  missed 
> EVERY red light. I, and a couple hundred other drivers were in a hurry. I  
> checked the time, checked the traffic, swore at yet another red light.   Four 
> lanes of traffic in both directions, and it was crawling.
> I was nearing another jammed intersection, people running through the  
> yellow, jamming up those edging out in anticipation of green.  On the  boulevard, I 
> caught a glimpse of a trio of tall and stately Sandhill Cranes. Mom  and Pop 
> and a fuzzy baby, not long out of the egg.
> They were waiting to cross.
> Waiting to cross?  Impatient drivers in all eight lanes . .what were  those 
> birds thinking?
> Pop stepped off the curb.
> The world stood still.  
> Mom crane followed Pop, and the baby hurried after.  No one honked, no  one 
> edged forward, wishing to hurry, Looking neither to left nor right, Pop led  
> his little family across eight lanes of frozen traffic.
> Not until all wee safe on the opposite boulevard grass, did vehicles start  
> moving.
> In another few seconds, the mayhem continued.
> The cranes paraded calmly toward the inviting expanse of the golf course  
> there.
> I was really late for my meeting.
> I did not even care.
>  
> NancyLee
> 
> 
> 
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>