As soon as I threw it, I heard some loud "shreeks" in the distance and seen a few other seagulls in the distance begin flying towards us. I again tossed a piece to the smaller bird. He was making his way over to it but he was again, he was afraid of the larger bird. The larger bird again swooped back over and gobbled it up. I began to get a bit agitated at this point.
Suddenly, 3-4 other seagulls landed in front of the smaller bird and made a barricade. I could see dozens of seagulls now in the distance beginning their own pursuit. I quickly threw 3-4 large pieces of wadded up bread and they began to fly over towards it. Within seconds there were 20-30 birds flocking, some of them were flying directly over my head. More and more birds appeared seemingly out of no where, I began to get nervous. I quickly took out 3 slices at once and threw them all Frisbee style in the direction of the herd. It was an absolute frenzy.
I could see dozens more still on their way to the feeding grounds. Again, I grabbed a handful of bread and threw it in their direction. They were attacking each other to get the bread, and were still surrounding me making me feel uncomfortable. I grabbed another handful of full slices and threw them until my bag was empty. I walked away from the beach towards the path and looked back. There were about 50 birds eating and I have to admit, I felt pretty accomplished. I felt like I had done something good.
This good feeling brought me back to the store to buy another loaf. The friendly store clerk who had just sold me the previous loaf asked me; "What are you guys making"? I proudly and heroically told him; "I'm feeding the birds at the beach". He responded; "Hey, that's really nice of you Daniel, somebody has to feed those guys". Being that this is the south and everybody is friendly here, I am on a first name basis with the fella at the gas station, even though I just moved here. It was about to become very evident that I just moved here.
When I arrived back on the beach, there was still a very large flocking of seagulls in the vicinity of the prior bread. As soon as they seen me they began stalking me. 30-40 seagulls were flying very close to my head and making me uncomfortable. I quickly realized that this was a very bad idea. As soon as I threw one piece of bread, about 60-70 birds were screeching and following me. All I wanted to do was to help these guys out, and now I was petrified. I was completely surrounded, and it was impossible to throw anymore bread. I began to run for a set of stairs and they swooped at me.
I began thinking to myself; "You idiots, there is enough for all of you, let me help you! I know you are hungry, let me feed you". More and more birds were appearing by the second. I began running and the sand was filling up in my shoes. I realized that I was going to have to throw the bread and make a run for it. The bag of bread was inside the bag from the store. So I just took it out and threw the bag on the ground and ran. It was complete pandemonium. I felt bad that I had just littered on the beach, but I was honestly fearing for my own safety. I can laugh at myself now, but I was honestly nervous!
When I got back onto the street I seen one seagull flying with a large piece of bread in his mouth and another one was hot on his trail and "screeching". The aggressor was taking shots at him until he dropped the bread and the other bird caught it in the air. Suddenly, I didn't feel like I had done a good thing anymore. All I was trying to do was to help them. But, instead, I got attacked and they were all trying to kill each other. It sort of reminded me of those crazy black Friday videos. It was at that very moment that I realized something, humans are not so different from the seagulls.
It seems like whenever somebody tries to do something good, or charitable, the scavengers appear. It never takes long before the charitable deed turns into a free-for-all. Government assistance for example exists to assist the people who cannot afford to live. However, every year thousands of people are arrested for abusing it. Can you only imagine how many get away with it? How can you help people who abuse the help? It is very similar to, how can you feed the birds if they are attacking you?
Our society is much like the flock of seagulls. The larger ones take all of the bread because they can. They might leave some scraps for the others, but that is only because their bellies are already full. Our culture exploits the "smaller birds" in order to fill their own pockets. When seagulls are hungry, they will cannibalize their own young. Today I suppose I learned a few things:
1 - Exploitation takes place along all levels of the food chain
2 - Sometimes you cannot help those who need help, because of the greed of others.
3 - Seagulls can be scary as a mother---ker.
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