It’s goose season. One hundred or so surround me this morning as I sit on my sea wall bench. They block the sidewalk and fill it with sh**. For half the Vancouver residents, they are a delight, a picture of beauty and grace and a reminder that not just humans are welcome in our city. For the other half, these feathered interlopers should be shot and fed to the homeless in a banquet celebrating food security & homegrown delights.
I could go either way.
Most people defer to these skunk headed aviators, giving them a wide birth. But not all. Some people refuse to give way to these lesser creatures. They plough straight ahead into the feathered phalanx. The geese better move, or they will taste the boot. (These people are almost always men) Its the season where leashes get tested as owners have to pull hard restraining their dogs from obtaining an early morning snack. Runners typically run in straight lines, but not now. They bounce all over the sidewalk in a vain attempt to avoid the growing piles of poo that cover the pavement. I have a hard time determining if these joggers are running or doing aerobics!
It’s also a time for more human connection. People look at each other more. There are more smiles, more knowing looks and sympathetic glances. More passing comments, more cameras out and more shared laughs as people try to navigate the honkers and the green and white landmines they leave behind. “Nice job navigating the poo,” I say to one particularly concerned walker. She smiles and laughs out loud.
Geese poo brings people together, is that what I am saying? It’s a shared experience. We are all going through something together. Granted, the people who traverse the seawall each morning and I are a long way from being “A band of brothers,” but the idea is the same. The more little experiences strangers share with each other, the less strange we will become to each other. “You too?” Is the most powerful means of connection we have. The more “You too’s?” We can share with each other the better our world will become.
