"How wild is the duck?"

photo link

Wolfgang Simson, from a post called, "How wild is the duck?":

The current Babylonian captivity of the Church explained in a story:

“Domestic ducks have a fine life. Their existence is safe, even predictable. With their clipped wings, there they sit in the barnyard, their life laid out for them as straight as an arrow: from the roost to the trough, and on to the pan. The ducks tell themselves and their children: that’s life, it won’t change; it can’t change. It has always been so, and always will be. Only twice a year, in springtime and autumn, there is great excitement in the barnyard, and the little duck-world is tumbled upside down. Their hearts beat faster, adrenalin pumps through their veins, and they even try to leap into the air in a vain attempt to fly. It’s the time when the wild ducks fly high and above the barnyard in their arrow-formation, off and away to a distant destiny. And down below, strange, forbidden, and heretical thoughts shoot through the brain of the domestic duck: what on earth am I doing here? Is not my place up there, in the sky, with them, migrating together with my wild brothers and sisters, high above all barnyards, fences and troughs? But, for good or bad, the spooky feelings are soon gone, as the wild ducks vanish beyond the horizon. And the tame ducks lower their sights, pat each other in affirmation on their backs with their clipped wings, and nod to each other: only a dream, a Fata Morgana! Let’s return to the real world, the world of barnyard, trough – and pan. For sure, to be a domestic duck has a lot of advantages. Usually it’s warm, it gets the fodder in time, and it will hardly ever be eaten by a fox. But it has some drawbacks, too.

Well, it can’t really fly, and the routine numbs it beyond recognition. But, to be a wild duck has its drawbacks too. It has to stand against the cold, uncertainties, and hunger. Quite a price for freedom…”

(From Der Preis des Geldes – The Price of Money – by Simson/Giudici). LINK