I was watching “Animals are Beautiful People,” which was pretty similar to “The Gods Must Be Crazy I & II.” Quite a few scenes really got me thinking. One particular sequence was about a duck’s sacrifice.
By the shore, a mother duck was surrounded by her flock of little ducklings. The lazy and cowardly hyena was lurking around the area, preying on defenseless baby animals. Mama had to protect her babies from the drooling predator, so she directed the little ones to scurry over to the water like furry yellow ninjas in order to swim across to the safe side. Meanwhile, she would create a distraction so her babies could make their getaway. She flopped around as if she were injured…flopping, fluttering her wings, wobbling, diving into and kicking up dirt, pulling out all the stops. She waited for the hyena to direct his attention towards her and gradually walk over to where she was. The ducklings made a bee-line to the water’s edge as the mama duck splashed into the water. The hyena followed its bait into the water and probably assumed its meal was a done deal. The mama duck continued to put on the theatrics until her babies made it across the open water into the safe terrain. Then, she stopped the act and made a mad dash to safety, herself. The confused hyena missed out on a savory meal of ducklings as well as a meal of injured mama duck.
At first, I was glad that the mama duck and her ducklings escaped the jaws of the hyena. But then I began to think about how the mama duck made her sacrifice with only one thing in mind- Success. In reality, the chances of success and failure are 50/50. She wanted to save her ducklings, ensure they lived to see another day, another week, another year. In this film, she flipped her coin and got heads. But what if the other side of the coin showed up? What if she was caught and killed in the middle of her theatrics- and the hyena proceeded to catch and gobble up her helpless ducklings for dessert? Or the hyena’s cousin was lurking behind a bush somewhere and killed her or her ducklings as they were making their getaway? Or what if some water animal suddenly popped up and killed the splashing mama bird? What if in the middle of her theatrics she got tangled in a vine and the hyena ate her children as she watched helplessly? Suddenly the sacrifice didn’t seem like a sacrifice, but more like a risky gamble. If the littlest thing strayed from the plan, the orphaned ducklings could be left alone to fend for themselves or the mama could have lost all of her babies.
Then I began to think about how I make “sacrifices” for this person or that group of people. My only aim is success. But the reality, the true chances, all the things that can happen, make that sacrifice seem futile. In the end, both mama and her ducklings will die- whether from the claws of a predator, sickness, hunger, old age. I will not beat that world and stay on top for eternity and neither will those I’ve sacrificed for. Any sacrifice can only save someone temporarily. Temporary. Puts things in perspective.
It’s not that I will no longer sacrifice because there’s the chance of failure, or that I’m scared. It’s more that I must consider my role in the situation and whether or not I am doing more than is normally required by sacrificing. Each sacrifice I do make will be made with a conscious understanding that it can either be successful or it can fail. The chances are even, identical. Once I know that, I’m not putting all my ducklings in one basket. There will be moderation in my actions.
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