I went on my bike ride today and found myself at one point in the park, by the pond. As I walked my bike toward a shady spot near the pond, a gaggle of geese regarded me warily. We kept a mutually respected distance between us. I did not go to their group, and they left me alone.
On the other side of the pond, though, I saw a family walking along. The family consisted of a father, a mother, and two boys, aged around 10 and 14 I would guess. They boys had long hair and the mother wore olive drab pants with leg pockets. The geese were watching them, and as the family approached, the geese jumped into the water and began to move toward them. I am not sure how the geese knew, but they somehow sensed that there was something about this family that required their attention.
After a few moments, the family had stopped on the other shore of the pond, while the geese continued to approach them. The family pulled out bread. I think they were old hot-dog buns that had not been properly mated with hotdogs during some barbecue. They began to tear these up and throw them into the water, right where the expectant geese had congregated. The geese hungrily devoured the offering, and came closer to the family. One of the boys started throwing pieces of bread at the geese, apparently hoping to hit them. His mother told him that he knew better than to behave that way. Obviously, the boy did not respect the geese and had to learn this respect from his mother.
The geese continued to advance. They started coming up onto the land, where the family was. The family started backing away. Emboldened by the family's retreat, the geese became more aggressive, and started advancing faster. The family began to sense peril. Geese can get nasty, and they can bite pretty hard. There were about twenty geese to the family of four humans, so they were outnumbered five to one. However, to keep perspective, they were just geese, and nobody was in any real danger, thus making the entire scenario amusing to watch.
The family finally threw all that was left of the bread they had brought for the geese. They had no more, but the geese were still hungry. They charged! They put the family to flight. The family was flat-out running away as the geese continued to chase them up the bank of the pond. Eventually, the family was gone, and the geese settle back into their normal routine.
As I watched this entire series of events unfold before me, I was tempted to shout at the family: "I hope you learned a lesson from that!" But I didn't. Some lessons can only be learned from experience, and if someone can't learn from experience, they certainly can't learn from someone pointing out the obvious to them.
