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\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A Swan\u2019s Dilemma <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Two swans fly over a serene mountain lake.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n They circle and decide to land, eat, & rest.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n All they see are a few ducks. They are bait.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The swans ignore this, as you might guess.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n They are rummaging around in the tulles.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Something to eat. Maybe some minnows.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Suddenly, a loud bang shakes the tulles.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The ducks take off like bugs out a window.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The swans take flight. The female swerves.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n She is hit in the foot by a shotgun pellet.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Her mate flies close to steady her nerves.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Her foot is bleeding. They can smell it.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Soon, they are safely out of range.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n They find a small creek in which to land.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The female is limping, due to the pain.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n It looks like it will heal ok if given a hand.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Her mate helps her all he can with food & drink.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Why would anyone shoot poor innocent ducks?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Swans are protected. Collateral damage, they think.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n We are birds. So are ducks.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n We differ in looks and color.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Yet, we are the same. What a rut.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n They will shoot one, but not another?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n When will they give up this silliness.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Stop shooting us all and live in peace.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n All it would take is a little willingness.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n We all share this planet. It\u2019s the very least.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n ————————————R. W. Johnson—–(2015)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A Swan\u2019s Dilemma Two swans fly over a serene mountain lake. They circle and decide to land, eat, & rest. All they see are a few ducks. They are bait. The swans ignore this, as you might guess. They are rummaging around in the tulles. Something to eat. Maybe some minnows. Suddenly, a … Continue reading A Swan’s Dilemma<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,6,16,29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-activism","category-fantasy","category-free-bird-poetry","category-life-lessons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wordsmithwisdom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wordsmithwisdom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wordsmithwisdom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wordsmithwisdom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wordsmithwisdom.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1211"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.wordsmithwisdom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1211\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1212,"href":"https:\/\/www.wordsmithwisdom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1211\/revisions\/1212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wordsmithwisdom.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wordsmithwisdom.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wordsmithwisdom.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}