Yes, East Coast - There Is A Duck Saver In Spokane!

So I happened to go look at Amelia Duckheart's facebook page (and here is a link to my entry on the background of this story). Seems the New York Magazine is skeptical about the truth of the story of a banker named Joel Armstrong who helped a mama duck get her newborn babies to the river in a town called Spokane, Washington! The skepticism spanned from (a) it's not true - I mean, c'mon, bankers don't wear jeans, to (b) it's a bank stunt to get sympathy - how'd the cameras show up at "just the right time?" to (c) this is dangerous - the mama duck will reject her babies, the firehouse should be in charge, etc. Oh, and a favorite - yeah, sure this all happened while the town was having its own annual "Lilac Parade."

Hey. Yeah. It did. It's all true.

What is life like on the East Coast of this country, for skepticism to be so rampant? It's so sad (not to mention lazy journalism to accept skepticism first rather than do a brief search to find out the background of this story from last year - the first year that this all took place). So not only is the mama duck not rejecting her babies, but she actually sought out banker Joel Armstrong's window ledge this year, since everything turned out so great last year when she built her nest there. Not only did the babies hatch the day before our annual Lilac Parade (with princesses and everything), but the mama duck started marching the babies down to the river just as the human parade was getting ready to start. Sometimes life is stranger than fiction. Sometimes life is art.

Sigh. I mean, life isn't all peaches and cream 2700 miles to your west, guys, but - enjoy a little levity, huh? It was a nice thing. It was fun. It was something to believe in. I know, I know - I used to live out that way too (DC, not NYC, but I do understand)... Sometimes, though, it's time to lower the armor. Joel Armstrong and this Mama Duck - is just one of those times.

(Luckily Joel Armstrong - aka the Duckman - got on the NY Magazine story and made a comment. Read his May 21 post in the "comments" section.)