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What you Might Think
You might think that the mission of Duckies Rule! has been all about making a profit. Your conclusion would only be about 25 percent correct. Duckies Rule! grew organically, without a business plan, and, well, it still doesn't really have a business plan or financing. (However, it does own some copyrights and trademarks. And it is open to being bought up with certain creative rights intact.)
It all started out long ago, in a not-so-far off land called West Seattle, Washington -- a beachy suburb located on a peninsula in the Puget Sound. Long ago was 1992. That was the year that Ron Sterling (aka Dad) started leaving his artificial Christmas tree in the living room in front of the largest window in his rental on 38th Avenue in West Seattle, all year long. He decorated it differently for each major holiday. Yes, it was fun and quirky, but his daughter sometimes complained "it's embarrassing." To this day, she is still somewhat befuddled by the whole dad-decorating-thing.
In late 2004, Ron moved to a cottage on the beach in West Seattle with his soon-to-be wife and, lo and behold, the cottage had a small garden that must have been created just for Ron's decorating and entertaining purposes. It was fate. There was no thought of Duckies Rule! at that time. There was only the urge to brighten up people's lives (not unlike Ron's "real" profession of psychiatry). According to his mom, that urge has been in Ron's life since "the day he popped out."
The cottage on Beach Drive SW has seen five-year's worth of different decorations for every major holiday -- that's right -- New Year's, Valentine's, St. Patrick's, Easter, Cinco de Mayo, Memorial Day, Summer!, Independence Day, Summer!, Labor Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas (Hanukkah, Kwanzaa). Ron kept looking for the most cheerful and delightful images for his garden art, and eventually stumbled on some large ducky lamps at Target. Then he discovered some large rubber duckies on eBay. It dawned on him that there really was no other more "uplifting" image than the image of a rubber ducky. That was his ducky moment. And, that is when "The Age of Duckquarius" officially began.
As the ducky decorations evolved into much more sophisticated characters with their own identities and themes, neighbors began asking Ron if he had ever thought of producing calendars or greeting cards using his ducky characters. Well, no, he hadn't. But, thanks to them, that thought has now grown some very gnarly roots into the mindset of the person who has become known as "The Duckman." Blame it on the neighbors.
From there, it has all been uphill, hilarious, and continually inspirational. Not unlike Richard Dreyfuss's urge to build and discover in Steven Spielberg's "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," Ron has been turning out ducky characters, images, and thoughts, as if he was possessed. So, what is his mission? Really?
Sure, making money would be nice, especially since older age looms up a bit in Ron's life, but, the truth of what Ron is really up to goes much, much deeper than that.
It goes to what Ron has been about most of his life -- an activist psychiatrist who started out early in life thinking deeply about religion, spirituality, attitudes, society, materialism, love, consumerism, economies, and biology, especially human biology. (That's a lot for a 12 year old going on 20.)
Even in his college biology department, where he was a research assistant and was majoring in biology, he didn't quite fit in. His senior thesis was a psychology project entitled "Body Image Stereotyping in Elementary School Children." Long story about how he convinced the head of the department to let him do a psychology project for his senior biology thesis -- you don't want to know the "gory" details.
Also, a long story about how Ron was granted conscientious objector status by his draft board. He has been a "war resister" since at least age 11. (You don't like "peaceniks"? Buy your duckies somewhere else....) To be perfectly clear, Ron is anti-war and pro-troops. What we have asked of our troops goes way beyond the pale.
So, you can see, I hope, how the ducky "business" fits into Ron's life. One of his favorite projects has been his "Peace Duckies 2010" calendar, which he calls "subversively cute."
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In other words, what Ron is saying is "there are ways to influence and spur mindful thinking that subverts the reigning standards (materialism and power) and directs energies towards cooperation, collaboration, self-fulfillment, and a healthy planet that are, well, cute -- you know, that don't use sledgehammers." |
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The duckies of Duckies Rule! are examples of understated, but not-that-subtle, Pavlovian reprogramming in action.
Ron's mission is to spread "duckitude" throughout the world. So far, he has done a fairly good job of spreading it throughout West Seattle. There's a lot of work ahead...
Yes, duckitude. The attitude of a ducky. Which, of course, is different than the attitude of a duck, but similar. Traditionally, the most popular duck-related quote is "he/she handled it just like water off a duck's back," which is translated as "she/he is resilient." If that is true of a duck, then that is three times more true of a rubber ducky, which, of course, is impervious to rain.
Eckhart Tolle, the author of "A New Earth" and "The Power of Now," offers us another view of "duckitude." In both books, Tolle observes that when two ducks get into a tussle, they end it by flapping their wings and swimming off. As far as he can tell, they don't stay mad – they don't carry a grudge. They flap their wings and get on with life. The "duck lesson," according to Tolle is "Flap your wings, which translates as 'let go of the story.'" The human mind, in other words, often gets attached to THE STORY and relives it over and over again, thus, living mostly in the past and not in the present. If that is true of ducks, then it is three times more true of rubber duckies who never get into fights in the first place.
Duckitude. Gotta have it. Can't live long without it. Planet earth requires it.
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-- Thank you for visiting. Best wishes! Ron Sterling
** Feel free to comment on the Duckies Rule! Mission Statement at The Duckies Rule! Blog -- A Ducky World.
Updated March 11, 2010
