When the Joy of Witnessing Human Compassion Gives Me Hope

Nature’s way of teaching us to rise above

Toya Qualls-Barnette
5 min readSep 16, 2024

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A female mallard-duck swimming in a lake with her ducklings
Photo by Chris F: (pexels)

Yesterday, I took a nature walk. The weather was pleasant, and I needed a change of scenery — a breath of fresh air after ninety-degree temperatures the past few weeks in the Bay area.

I live near a park with a small lake within walking distance. It’s not unusual to see duck families taking a swim.

Deer, mountain lions, foxes, coyotes, and bobcats who live in the adjacent hills also make their presence known. I haven’t seen a mountain lion, but plenty of our neighbors have, so my head is always on the swivel.

To my surprise, a mother duck and her ducklings had the same idea — to escape their usual habitat and venture out through the neighborhood. As I approached the busy intersection to cross the street, I couldn’t believe my eyes.

Traffic backed up a mile down the street behind a mother duck and her eight ducklings in tow, walking a straight line in the middle of the right lane. A joyous sight to see, albeit a little scary.

They waddled towards the traffic light with not a care in the world, injecting an instant jolt of happiness into my soul.

I couldn’t bear to envision a hurried driver speeding around the other cars, ending…

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Toya Qualls-Barnette

*14x Boosted writer | Writing about the impact of relationships |Contributor to Chicken Soup for the Soul| Dreamer | Mother| HSP in drag