So, I was the guy who stopped rush hour traffic on Washington DC's busy GW Parkway last night, and fought with a mother duck. Let me explain:
As I sat in traffic, I saw a mother duck crossing the road with about half a dozen little ones waddling in tow. "Aww", I thought. "How beautiful springtime is in DC" -- *cue melodious Disney music*. Right then, the car in front of me -- which probably didn't see the family of ducks -- sped on ahead, and right over them. My jaw dropped. I cringed and closed my eyes anticipating the worst. *Hard stop on Disney music*
As the car drove off, I saw that one duckling was completely squashed under the tire, and another had a leg torn off. Thankfully, most made it out. Mother-duck was naturally in hysterics. She wouldn't leave her fallen one behind. She kept nudging at it in a panic (as if her repeated nudges would revive it), all the while tending to the other ducklings scrambling about the road in a state of confusion. It was a sad scene.
At this point, I feared other cars might start shooting into the road, so I hit the breaks and used my car to block traffic, and ran out into the street. My mission: Get the ducks across the road before the onslaught of rush-hour made its way around my car. To complicate matters, mother duck began to attack me in the middle of the road as she would not leave the fallen one behind! So, with the help of another kind lady, we gathered the little ducklings to take them over to the other side, knowing mother duck would pursue. Seeing us make off with the little ones, mother duck did just that, and gave furious chase behind us.
Finally, we made it across the road with all of them intact, including the injured ducking. Mother was not happy with me, and while I helped the last one over the curb, she attacked again with the full wrath and fury of any mother who just endured the loss. For all she knew, I was trying to steal her ducklings (I forgive you mother duck!).
Some of you may laugh triviality of this story. Tragedies and epic catastrophes are taking place all around us every moment of the day (I even prepared a succulent tandoori chicken for dinner, so what gives!) -- I get it. It was remarkable, sad, and -- dare I say -- almost human to see the mother duck struggle to revive her lost one; how she wouldn't leave its side, even fighting a grown man just to be near it and protect the others. Mother's Day just came and went and the whole episode reminded me that the courageous spirit and strength of motherhood travels through all creatures of this earth -- no matter how big or small. And that's a powerful lesson, especially for this urbanite.
As I hurried back to my car, I expected the wrath of DMV rush hour commuters (there's no wrath quite like it) to descend upon me in a fury of honks and expletives -- or worse! But to my surprise, there was absolute silence. Every car that passed slowly by rolled down their window to say "thank you", or give a silent thumbs up. It was encouraging and heart-warming because I knew that in that moment we all recognized what was happening, and did our part to share the space with nature as best as we could. We all cared, and rooted these little guys on.
There's time and space for all of us. And perhaps there's hope, too.