Not so fond of the ducks anymore...

It's ironic that a place that is known for being so beautiful, could harbor evil just around the corner from it's picturesqe beaches.

Slowly, by word of mouth, people are finding out that I'm going to Thailand and everyone comments on how beautiful it is; and, based on pictures, it really does seem to be a beautiful area. But, then you Google "Walking Street" in Pattaya and the pictures aren't so pretty. Girls standing out in front of bars, holding signs to try and entice customers to come into their bar. Some of these girls couldn't be over 15 years old and their clothes are barely covering their bodies. It's so odd how things aren't always what they seem.

Speaking of things not always being what they seem... today was upsetting at work. We have a reflecting pool at work and the past couple of months there have been a few ducks that have made it their home. At least two males and one female. Most of us always got a kick out of looking out our windows and seeing ducks on our campus. Then the ducks disappeared for a couple of weeks and it was kind of a bummer... we kept looking everyday to see if they'd come back. Then, earlier this week one of the ducks, a Mallard, was back hanging out in the pool. Couple days later the female and the other male were back. I just thought that they were all so cute.

Until today.

I come into work and find out that, apparently, the two male ducks ganged up on the female duck and killed her. It was really so sad. She was just laying there in the water with her head draped over the side of the reflecting pool. The two male ducks kept coming over to her and pecking at her and staring at her until finally, one of the gardeners came over and took her away. But, I still noticed, throughout the day, that those two jerks would go stand over where she had been laying and just stare. I had heard that, apparently, Mallards are pretty violent when they are trying to mate with a female and they push them under the water, so the poor thing probably drowned. So, me being me, I had to google the mating rituals of Mallard ducks and, sure enough, that's what the male ducks do (according to Wikipedia). They, oftentimes, gang up on the female and peck at her and essentially rough her up until she's too weak to fight and then they mate with her.

Lovely. I will never look at those stupid ducks the same. My image of them is shattered beyond repair. =P But, it's not just the ducks that upset me... it was just what it got me thinking about. I mean, why are we so cruel to one another? Why do we behave so violently towards others? It's something that I struggle with a lot because I just can't even begin to understand what is going through someone's mind when he/she purposely and willfully hurts another person. I mean, what goes through these sex-traffickers minds that allows them to sleep at night. How are they rationalizing what they are doing??? What is going through their minds that trafficking would even have entered their minds, in the first place, as a means to earn money? What's even more scarey to me, is to know that I have that capability in me. I have the capability of committing horrific acts of violence towards another and I would be kidding myself (and you're kidding yourself too) if I thought that I'm above that. Realistically, I'm one bad decision away from doing something horrible to another person. I mean, look at 'road rage'. People who, typically, have their tempers in check and would never think to intentionally harm someone... one day they are cut off on the way to work and suddenly they snap and they tear off in their car after that person- probably not even knowing what they want to accomplish by doing this, but just to let that other driver know that what he/she did was not okay and they should be sorry for it.

Wow- this is kind of a downer blog posting, isn't it??? lol. I'll have something lighter next time. I plan on sharing pictures of my amazing artistic abilities, as demonstrated through foam animal sunvisors (no ducks) I've been making to take along with me.