They are back. In the exact same place. Right on the edge of Route 495 south, just after the exit for Westford. A pair of Canada geese with their goslings. They’ve been showing up in that exact spot for years – perhaps you remember my previous reflections on this precarious choice of location.
As I sped past them yesterday on my way home, I saw them for the third time this week, standing just inches from the pavement. The two adult geese with their heads held high, scanning for danger, and two fluffy, yellow goslings nearby in the grass.
Seeing them there, just feet from the cars and trucks that rush by at 70 miles an hour, stirs up a lot of questions.
Is this the same pair of geese who return year after year to this same precarious spot, out of habit? Or do they think this is a fabulous location to have babies? Do they come back here every spring to hatch their goslings because this is what they know? Could this possibly be different geese, who have happened upon the same ridiculous place? Why do they enjoy hanging out so very close to the fast moving cars? And why, for the love of God, why not choose a better spot – with a larger pond, with more grass, with less exhaust and noise, away from the highway?!
And today, for the first time, it occurred to me that maybe they stand so close to the cars because there they feel safe from other predators. Maybe they have chosen the noise and danger of route 495 over the danger of the wolves and lynx and hawks that might lurk near the woods. Perhaps they believe that one danger can fend off another.
And don't we - as a nation and as individuals - sometimes make choices to keep ourselves safe, that are actually putting us in danger?
