Nice weather for the ducks!

Last weekend Eric, Sarah, Elizabeth, and I went to Highland park in Kokomo. Originally the two wives probably wanted to go to the beach, but I suggested we go to the city park. And besides, there's always the chance of feeding the ducks.

Eric and Sarah have a couple kids, Jeriah, less than a few months old, and Clayton who I figure is somewhere around two or three.

Sarah grabbed an old loaf of bread before we left. The bread wasn't molding or anything, but you could tell it was getting along. When we arrived Sarah tore a piece of bread in half and tossed it toward the ducks. The ducks went right for it.

Clayton, although very young, was probably old enough to tell we were all watching him and counting on him to be amused by this new experience. He took a whole slice of bread and threw it at a few ducks in the water, who kept swimming but eventually went around to snack on the bread.

Of course the adults were glad to see Clayton (who only knows a couple words) was cooperating with our afternoon plans. We proceeded to praise and applaud the youngster, who smiled.

He went over to the bread again and picked another whole slice of bread. He went over to the ducks again, but this time instead of throwing a piece at them, he stood there looking at the bread.

"Clayton," Eric spoke up loudly. "Throw the bread at the ducks!"
Clayton looked down at the bread and then over at his dad again.
"Clayton!" His dad shouted.

Before we could understand what he had done, Clayton had placed the entire slice of bread in his mouth, which was a couple sizes smaller than the slice of bread. Eric looked puzzled. Clayton was not accustomed to wolfing down his food ... let alone duck food.

Clayton went back over to the bread and picked another slice of bread. He took it near the ducks, who didn't seem any more eager for the bread than earlier, and looked at the bread. Then he put the entire slice in his mouth. Sarah squinted down at Clayton and then turned to Eric. "Why's he doing that?" She asked.

Eric looked sternly upon his son. Eventually he smiled and said, "I guess he was hungry!"

My take on it was this: to a small child with more than enough to eat, food is just food. But when the time comes to start throwing food to ducks, well, this is food! It's not entertainment! This is serious business!

"When Darius was fleeing from Alexander, he managedto get a drink of some muddy water, polluted by corpses. However, he declared he had never drunk anything better - since whenever he drank before, he said, he had never known what it was to be thirsty." -Cicero