Had a lovely Saturday morning traipsing around Shoreline
park. It was to be oddly hot on Saturday
so I ran the dogs early-early and took myself hiking after that to get my park
time before the 90° hit.
It is not unusual to be stopped while out hiking with
camera. Other bird folk ask what you
have been seeing or tell you what they have seen. Non-bird folk often ask about the
camera. There is the usual weather
talk. It’s a popular subject with
strangers.
So, I didn’t think it odd at all when two ladies stopped to
ask what I was shooting. We talked about
the abundance of hummingbirds and all the Canada Goose babies (tons!). The older of the two asked if I had shot the
large field of California Poppy. I had
not. While beautiful, I generally only
photograph things with a face. She asked
why. I favor the fauna over the flora,
love of animals, animals do things, more interesting to observe. Like that.
She used my explanation as her awkward transition into religion
pushing.
The first thing that popped into my head was that scene from
Silence of the Lambs – when Clarice first meets Lecter and tries to get him to
fill out the survey thingy…
“Oh, no, no, no, no. You were doing fine. You had been courteous
and receptive to courtesy. You had established trust, with the embarrassing
truth about Miggs. And now this
ham-handed segue into your questionnaire.”
I so wish I had the balls to say shit like that at the
time. And in Hannibal’s voice, too?
I am way funnier in my own head.
She fumbles around in her bag and produces a little
pamphlet. She hands it to me, pointing
at the scene on the cover. “We could
live like this, you know. This world
could be a reality.”
I am, of course, irritated at this point. Our whole little nice conversation has been a
sham. A sales pitch. She didn’t give a shit how my day was
going. Didn’t care about what I had
seen. Was just looking for an opening.
Now, I am agnostic, so maybe I don’t know about these things,
but it seems to me that maybe Jesus wouldn’t appreciate being peddled like
Avon?
“Would you like some scripture to go with your Skin So Soft?”
I stuffed the paper in my pocket, thanked her and
high-tailed.
I looked at the pamphlet when I got home.
This is the world that could really exist.
Pretty, right?
Shall we take a closer look at our new world? This one in which mothers allow and encourage
their children to feed blueberries to BROWN BEARS!!
Oh, and right on the other side of the idyllic meadow? Lion petting.
WTF??!! Who allows
their toddler to SCRITCH A FRICKIN’ LION!
Are these people high? How am I supposed to take this
seriously? If you believe that the earth
was created by god, then mustn’t you also believe that he created predators and
prey? Look, that’s just the way it
works. Some things eat other things. I’m pretty sure a toddler getting all up in
lions’ grill would be a death sentence, not a picnic activity.
And a peaceful world does not need to include fondling big
cats and grizzly bears. Right? Maybe they
should talk to Roy Horn? Maybe we put our efforts into not killing and
maiming each other first? Worry about
the petting zoo later?
On top of that, the pic taking sucked. Birds everywhere. Wrong light over here, other side of the lake over there. Great for watching, not so much with the taking. There was one Cormorant who sort of obliged me.
I can never get a good shot of their eyes, though. Very cool-looking. Google it.
