Riot and insurrection in the goose world
On almost any morning of the year, the goose compound is greeted with indifference. Gandalf, the gander, says to Mrs. Goose, pay him no mind, he is just chief cook and coop cleaner: the janitor who comes to open and clean our house in the morning and close at dusk. Consider him insignificant. He is a deplorable from Hillary’s basket. (Geese are elitists, swaggering about, heads held high in disdain as they tell others what to. do and where to go.) To make matters worse, because it is spring, and eggs are appearing in carefully crafted nests, I have been magically transformed from an almost tolerated, non threat nuisance into the enemy. Gandalf, the protector of all things domestic, threatens me with outstretched neck and hisses, not kisses. As I go about my chores, I find it necessary to keep at least one ear alert to possible sneak attacks from the rear. When I hear the sound of the galloping rhinohornaros (rhinoceros) bearing down on my six, I know it is time to turn and defend myself against slashing beak and flogging wings.
Gandalf’s goose instincts kick in when eggs begin to appear, and even though goose instinct has formed over what may be a very long time, it is not the best guide for the unique circumstances of Gandalf’s compound. I say “unique” because the geese of the wild normally have not had a chief cook and coop cleaner such as I. What Gandalf does not know is that I am his friend and benefactor, having brought him and his companions’ home with the intention of saving them from becoming someone’s Christmas dinner. In this case, faulty or missing information is not a serious problem because I care about my geese and will tolerate their family protector shenanigans. I can look deep into Gandalf’s beautiful blue eyes and say to him, “Do you not know that I am here to protect you and enhance your life?” But alas, he does not understand the meaning of “enhance.” Oh well…
Misinformation and missing information between us humans, however, is definitely more serious. It is was just spring for us humans, and this spring our nation was plagued with racial confrontations similar in some ways to the hissy fits in my goose enclosure. “Silly geese,” we say. Indeed! Most of us have seen the video of George Floyd’s murder by one policeman while other police stood close by without interdicting. Such brutality saddens us all and all agree that anyone involved in such brutality, including police, should be punished appropriately. However, much of the inflammatory talk coming from media, politicians and protesters ignores statistics indicating that police, as a rule, conduct themselves quite professionally under what are often very trying circumstances.
Current rioting, mayhem, and societal destruction would not be happening if everyone realized that our police are here to help and protect us. Yes, we must remove the occasional bad-apple police person and improve police tactics, but we must not destroy society and police departments. Similarly, when failure occurs in education, business, and the military, we remove those in charge and replace them with capable people. Do not blame only the bad apples: blame governors, mayors, police chiefs and union officials who refuse to make needed changes in the system. These we should protest. (Protest, but not riot. Violence hurts innocent citizens of all colors. Murder, burning, and looting do not solve problems they only cause more problems.)
Male-female, Democrat-Republican, black-white, rich-poor; together, we must all peacefully seek clear-eyed dispassionate solutions to our current issues. Remember, while we burn our Cities, China builds warships and military bases, Iran enriches uranium, and North Korea develops ICBMs. Silly geese, we waste valuable time fighting the wrong enemy. Just as Gandalf needs to look for foxes, instead of biting his coop cleaner, we Americans, regardless of color, must all work together as neighbors. Before we shake our fists at each other, we need to arm ourselves with facts. So armed, we will discover that biased media and treasonous politicians have misdirected our apprehensions inward instead of toward the real enemies — atheism, communism and totalitarianism. Facts before fists.
DeWitt Clinton is a resident of Dunbar.