cool mornings, Rivera Beach, and the mobbing of birds

yesterday my yin and i drove to West Palm, across to its illustrious island, and parked in a small park overlooking the intrcoastal. we took a nice long bike ride (a belated new year's treat) in the chilly 50° morning air, and ultimately reached a small pier looking out at the barges and slums of Riviera Beach.

it seemed odd that a single narrow channel of water could represent such a large divide between rich and poor, and i wondered idly what criminality lay hidden in the mansions and bathroom stalls of the wealthy. but this is beside the point.

the point is that a family of four joined us on the pier, set their bicycles by the rack, and pulled out a large box of Goldfish to feed the mulatto gulls loitering about. the children yelled their enthusiasm as the birds swooped down to snatch them out of the water, and then more gulls arrived to grab them mid-air. the parents reveled in their children's excitement, and soon the whole scene became little more than a screaming gull-ridden mob scene.

whatever discrimination the family had once possessed was now gone, and the parents were so wrapped up in their children's pleasure that they lost sight of the whole - feeding junk food to wildlife, the noise endured by the house next door, and the impending excrement that was about to fall on the other occupants of the pier.

ultimately the box flew into the water, and the parents looked at us to see if we had been watching. i held the father's gaze, and he and his wife hurried back to the bike rack, pulling their children along behind. the box was left floating in the water.

my yin and i spoke about what just happened, noting that this ugly scene came to be through nothing more than a parent's desire to see their children happy...

but it was desire nonetheless.