Racist Pets?

A few weeks ago I walked down to a river, trying to calm myself. I'd been told by a physician that I needed to limit my stress reactions to the colonial atrocities in my socio-environment.

On the way to the river, there was a plaque commemorating "settlement" of the area. A little further on there was another plaque commemorating the birth of the "first white child". This in a town whose idea of "heritage" is painting their shops all the same colour. Blood pressure rising...

Anyway, so I sought solace at the river. This had been converted from a natural place into a "public amenity", with no trees on the banks, now covered in a lawn of foreign grass. Brown native ducks paddled nervously on the water close to the bank.

Then two white ducks, pets from a nearby house, came by on patrol, and chased the flock of smaller native ducks out of the river. They hounded them up the bank and onto the road, then waddled their fat tails back to the water.

A baby black swan came by. This native infant had lost its mama. It had to run the gauntlet of the white ducks to get past in an effort to search further upstream. I watched his struggles for an hour, silently urging him on. Finally he got past them by ducking under the water and swimming underneath. I felt elated for a moment.

Then I saw that he had to try and get past some more white ducks a litte further up. I looked ahead to see the river dotted with white ducks and geese as far as the eye could see, and not a black mama swan in sight.

The first fat sentries saw the little fella paddling bravely, and began moving towards him...

I didn't find that the river decreased my stress at all, and left before further efforts at leisure in that "public facility" caused a stroke.