Jaywalking Ducks
Maybe my tolerance for stupid is running amuck.
Three times a week I drive along Alberni Street between Burrard and Thurlow. It’s in the middle of a busy area of downtown Vancouver surrounded by hotels, condos, upscale restaurants and shops. And clearly a mecca for stupid people.
It’s difficult to drive down the street because of all the jaywalkers. There is no other block where so many feel the need to just stroll out among the cars. There are traffic signals just a few steps away, but it seems no one feels the need to walk to the corner and cross legally. No, let’s just step in front of traffic.
Today I pulled my car over and watched for three whole minutes. During that time fourteen people jaywalked. Fourteen! And the drivers weaved their way through the maze.
I don’t really care that people do this but I know if one jaywalker gets hit by a car it will somehow turn into the driver’s fault.
Stupid.
And then the ducks.
Was there really a need for the group of media reporters and cameras when they released the ducks that got caught up in the oil spill? Really? A few ducks got slimed and in less than a week they were fine and set free. That is what the media is reporting on these days?
I wonder how many ducks were eaten in Vancouver restaurants in that same week. I bet more than four. Where is our sense of what constitutes an over the top reaction and what is a contradiction in what we think is right and wrong.
If a ship spills oil and there is no immediate response and some ducks spend days getting washed in Dawn dishwashing soap we should all be outraged. But if a guy is hungry and decides that the Pan-Seared Duck Foie-Gras looks tasty on a menu then that’s OK.
Now if a duck was jaywalking along Alberni Street, then fell into some oil that had dripped out of a car, then got hit by a cyclist that wasn’t in a bike lane…
That would be a headline story.
It would also be stupid and even the duck would agree.
I bet most ducks think we humans are ridiculous.
So agree. Had a letter to the Editor of the North Shore News published a few weeks ago about driver’s not stopping at stop signs properly but simply driving through them. They must be the same folks who jaywalk when not driving, I figure.
Out of my survey of 20 drivers at a side road merging into a 2 lane road, only 1 driver even bothered to stop behind the white line correctly. I was able to gesture to speak to him (he was about 26 years old) and congratulated him on his driving attentiveness and stopping correctly. His reply was, “But it’s the law.” Which is your point and mine about people simply not caring one bit about who is around them, or that law precedes their life and their non-celebrity presence.
With the narcissistic, selfie society of today where being forever attached and looking at a mobile device when anywhere, no wonder the law takes a back seat.
My final word: “Quack.”