The Way Things Are

I am an interpreter. I dress in khaki, wear a radio and transform into an encyclopedia of the natural world. Every morning I begin my day in the "Oasis" of the Animal Kingdom, a beautiful section of the park with waterfalls and trees and wildlife. I enjoy being surrounded by life.

This morning started out like most others: I was teaching families about macaws, with a transition message of choosing your pets wisely, when

suddenly, a duckling fell from the sky! All of us, me and the guests, looked up and saw a hawk!! Then everyone turned to me, the presenter caught between parrot, predator, and prey.

The mallard duckling was still alive and active, so I gently picked it up and placed it nearest the other ducks on the other side of the fence. Several female ducks began to quack very loudly as they surrounded the little one who had just escaped death. The red-shouldered hawk flew away, and all the guests now seemed very interested in birds! I couldn't help but feel noble: the ducks seemed grateful and the guests viewed me as a friend to baby birds.

Twenty minutes later, the hawk came back, grabbed a different duckling from the nest. This time, he didn't drop it. There was nothing I could do for that little bird, and perhaps, there's nothing I should have bee doing. Hawks eat ducklings. That's just the way things are.