Which Reminds Me

Of course who could forget Mr. Schaeffer's interesting diversionary discussion of the Amish custom of bundling during 10th grade biology class? If you cannot look at her face the next morning then obviously you are not equipped to handle reality. Of course, I don't exactly remember but it is possible that the subject of bundling might never have arisen without the fortuitous circumstance of my duck report in which the mating habits of ducks were lightly alluded to as a phenomenon of this particular species of Canadian duck, the male being the one to sit on the eggs and act as mother after the mother duck has laid the eggs and flown away. The imprinting of the mother duck upon the hatchling was explored in greater depth because it was actually the main point of the story. If imprinted with a portrait of something else, even a human, the duck might imagine that something other than a duck is its mother and not the mother duck herself. However, if the substite mother is not a duck the result would be a duck that does not know itself, does not understand its own identity as a feathered fowl of the duck variety and not some other gadget or plaything substituted by scientific researchers. However, it is possible that the gliding over of the duck mating issue prompted some other thoughts in Mr. Schaeefer's mind, although I don't remember whether there was a connection, and Mr. Schaeffer was never shy about running off on tangents now and then in addition to talking about biology.