And so, the ducks come from time to time. As a matter of fact, they come fairly often. The two of them simply waddled up from the lake into the backyard and, from there, walked up to the door and stood about 5 feet from the back door. We took some bread out, and some other snacks, and fed the ducks. It’s probably the wrong thing to do, but we enjoyed it and they kept coming back.
We’ve named the ducks George and Cindy. And there’s a history of how this whole process started several years ago that I’ll recount some other time.
However, for tonight, I thought it was appropriate to mention something. Throughout the entire time they’ve been coming, which is several years, and only on a seasonal basis, we fed them every time. Irrespective of that, we saw a clear personality difference between the two of them. Cindy is either very hungry or very brazen. She’ll get very close to us, and pick up the snacks we’re throwing on the ground. She won’t actually come up and take it from our hand, but she’ll get pretty close.
George, on the other hand, is unbelievably timid. As often as we have fed him without any negative consequences, he still eats about one-third the amount Cindy devours. George is shy, he is incessantly looking around, he is tentative in his approach, and he manages to eat only the bread that comes within a very short distance from him or, in some cases, the scraps which actually hit him on the head. For George, his consumption is limited by his fear, not by his desire.
As I saw the behavior of the two ducks tonight, I realized that Cindy was healthy, strong, and authoritative. George was timid, tentative, and a whole lot thinner. For Cindy, her consumption was ruled by her desire, not her fears.
For George, his consumption was ruled by his fear, not his needs.