One of my frequent driving paths takes me through a neighborhood that has an "amenity center" for the residents. A good size neighborhood swimming pool is part of the center. During the summers, children, families, and mothers and tots, occupy the pool most of the time every day. Mothers and tots have a stronghold on the mornings, children (supervised of course) take over the afternoons, and families grab the evenings and weekends.
The management keeps the pool filled and pretty clean year round even though it is closed in late fall through late spring (yes, it does get cold enough in Texas to not swim year round - remember the snow pictures).
Over the last few weeks I have noticed that the pool is occupied once again even though it has not officially opened for the summer. The resident swimmers and sun bathers are not the usual crowd. They do have two legs but their feet are webbed. They are colorful and skilled at both swimming and flying, but seem to be a little skiddish if someone wanders too close to the fence surrounding the pool. Several Mallard Ducks have found themselves an "amenity center" well suited to their liking. They swim and then sit (or stand or maybe waddle) around the pool to keep their tan lines even, I guess. And before you ask, I don't know how the clorine in the water affects them!
What concerns me is not that ducks are swimming in a pool designed for people. Rather, I am concerned about how many things that were intended for one significant purpose are now being used for lessor purposes. A few come to mind rather quickly - guns designed for protection or for war being used for crime and random shootings; drugs developed to save lives being taken illegally and resulting in the loss of life; sex created as a means of intimacy in marriage and for the procreation of the human species being used as a profitable business or desire for popularity; and the computer created so that we could do things faster to have more time for relationships but the result has been we use the computer for everything, even emailing our co-workers and playing games or working at home instead of time with family.
Am I just getting old (I did just have another one of those birthdays go by) and beginning to complain about everything or are our improvements and enlightenments really not so improving or enlightening? The truth is that some days I think there are ducks swimming in the pool. Maybe soon I will take some time and write about getting the right use of things, afterall I just wrote five paragraphs expressing my thoughts to WHOM? Maybe just to me!
No comments:
Post a Comment