geese and three foot monsters

it's not that i wanted the goose to bite you. i don't have any personal animosity towards you specifically. in all likelihood this probably isn't even your fault. the blame most likely falls on your parents or anyone else in your immediate environment who has played a roll in your upbringing to this point so far.

in the eyes of the goose you're chasing around the park, you're a three foot monster. you're an unholy terror that has been unleashed for no reason whatsoever. but to your family around you, you're hilarious.... and adorable. you're a spectacle to behold. a cellphone points in your direction taking video so that this moment can be frozen and eternal. who knows? maybe you'll go viral.

you're only chasing a goose and maybe i'm overreacting. you didn't hurt the goose so no harm, no foul, right? but what is it about knowing that goose didn't bite you that disappoints me?

i don't go throughout my life rooting for children to be bitten by animals. i don't get any sense of joy or satisfaction out of it. it's not the pain or suffering of a child that i crave to see. but what i would like to see is a lesson learned. you're only a child and it's not your fault that no one taught you that we "share" the planet with animals. it's not your fault that i seem to be the only one who sees a kid who doesn't understand that this park is their park as well. in fact, it's more theirs than ours. after all, they do sleep here.

i work in an office building that was built over swamps. there are geese everywhere. one day i was chatting with a coworker who said the following:

"damn geese, they act like they own the place."

i replied with a generic, 'heh,' and politely ended the conversation. but in my head i thought, 'they did own the place. we intruded on them. this is their home.'

but for the most part, we humans don't see things that way. we have an assumed dominance over everything. and while i'm partially playing the role of a meat eating hypocrite here, i don't believe we should assume dominance over animals. i think in the case of parks and forests and wherever else animals are found, we should respect their space and right to roam freely and do as they like.

if that goose would've bit you, you would've learned a lesson. you would've walked away from that experience knowing that geese don't like to be chased around by three foot monsters and will strike back when they've had enough of it.

instead you'll walk away a star for the moment, the target of adulation from all your loved ones. no one you look up to will step in and say, 'hey kid, you shouldn't do that. you might get bit.' no one will inform you that moments like these often have the tendency to go from laughter and smiles to tears and pain.

i didn't want to see you cry. what i wanted to see was a goose change your perspective... not only your perspective, but the perspective of all those around you. if that goose bites you, sure your family gets pissed and blames it all on the goose at first. but somewhere deep down inside, everyone will walk away from this with a better understanding that just like fire unapologetically burns when you put your hand in it, geese will attack when they've had enough of three foot monsters.