Clarity

There have been a lot of things that haven't made sense to me lately.  The most obvious is why masks are a political issue.  Politics, in general, has been more confusing and divisive.  I think some of my friends have been manipulated into believing things that are obviously false.  Some of my friends that that I have been manipulated into believing things that are obviously false. 

Today, I had a moment of clarity.  Oddly, one of my friends told my partner this week that I needed to get back in touch with nature.  It turned out she was correct as my clarity came from nature. 

I was enjoying my coffee out on my balcony when I was joined by a gaggle of geese.  My mother used to feed the geese every day.  She enjoyed them, they enjoyed her.  When my mother passed, I started feeding the geese in her memory.  Like my mother, I would toss out pieces of bread.  They loved it.  I started out at two slices of bread a day but I was attracting so many hungry geese that I was up to a full loaf a day.  We all seemed happy. 

Then, I read that bread was bad for geese.  It was actually killing them.  Do not feed bread to geese.  I felt awful that I had been doing something that was harming the geese.  I was ashamed and felt guilty. 

But, here's the thing.  Geese can't read.  They didn't know that bread was bad for them.  They just knew that I was avoiding them.   They still came to our spot where I fed them but I wasn't there anymore.  I found that I could feed geese chopped vegetable peels and chopped up grapes.  (I also found that they primarily eat grass and insects, which raised more questions.)  I went to some trouble to make sure I had the proper food to feed my geese. 

I triumphantly returned to my feeding spot which my approved food.  The geese came a running.  I threw out my food.  They turned their beaks up.  They had no idea that these chopped up grapes were actually a delicacy and required effort on my part obviously demonstrating my love for them. 

I wondered was just this a case of geese not recognizing what was good for them, or had years of us feeding them bread made them soft, so to speak.  Did we unintentionally domesticate geese?  Did we do irreparable harm to geese? 

Or are geese like every other demographic?  Are there a few "bad apples" in the mix?  Were these "bad apple geese" manipulating the other geese to eat things that were bad for them. 

As I was contemplating the parallels of geese to human behavior, another lady came to my feeding spot.  She had a loaf of bread and started tossing pieces out.  The geese were eating it up, literally.  They couldn't get enough.  The geese seemed so happy yet they were literally eating themselves to death. 

I didn't want to shame this woman for feeding them bread but I wanted to have a conversation with this woman so I wanted to have the latest research.  It turns out, in the last few years, the science of geese has been modified on the basis of new research.  It turns out bread is like junk food to the geese.  Too many carbs, not good for them, may cause runny stools, that kind of thing, but doesn't necessarily kill them unless pre-existing conditions like diagnosed diabetes and obesity.  Good news but how will I ever know which ones are diabetic.  They can't even read, how are we going to get them wear medic-alert bracelets? 

And, why were we even feeding the geese in the first place if their primary diet consists of grass?  Why were they eating what we were feeding? 

It was a simple issue but very confusing.  Suddenly, in all of this confusion, a moment of pure clarity came over and politics seemed to make a lot of sense.