Approrpriate Use of Tax Dollars

My first reaction to watching this video was disgust. If my husband were to do this I’d make fun of him and be mad. At first.

This is in my neck of the woods. The officer stops traffic on a very busy highway in order to let a momma duck and her ducklings cross the street.

Why do I say it, at first, made me angry? Because it is not the job of a police officer to protect wildlife that happens to wander on the road.

Not only that, but most law enforcement deaths are from traffic accidents so this officer was putting himself in even greater danger for some ducks. I would be furious if my husband put himself in this kind of danger. You can see that even though he was trying to stop traffic some of the cars were still going around (which also pissed me off … you see lights you stop or pull to the right…you don’t go around!).

On second consideration though I think that the cop did the right thing. Why such a change in thought?

I was discussing this with my coworkers and one of them brought up the fact that if he hadn’t stopped traffic that it is very likely that some moron would have swerved to avoid the ducks, thereby causing a serious accident and very likely a fatal pileup.

Knowing the people in this state I can say that is probably exactly what would have happened. There are people here who would rather swerve to avoid hitting a squirrel and put their own lives or the lives of others in danger than to hit the squirrel.

Me? I’d hit the squirrel if there were cars or people around. I hate squirrels anyway and no way would I try to avoid one if it meant crashing my car or hurting someone. [Lest you think me heartless, I also wouldn't swerve just to hit a squirrel...yucky.]

So after considering the situation I am glad the officer did what he did, even though my gut reaction was disgust. He probably saved the lives (or at least prevented serious injury) of people.

Oh…and yes, I’m specie-est (or whatever the word is) because if it would have been a dog I would have immediately been glad the officer stopped traffic. But whatever. =) I know my faults.