Was it a tragedy that a
beautiful, majestic animal was shot and killed?
Indeed it was. It was doubly
tragic because the animal was of a highly endangered species. Was it horrible that the people who have
worked with this animal on a daily basis were forced to kill him resulting from
a situation that probably never should have happened in the first place? Absolutely.
That being said, I have but one thing to say in the midst of the tsunami
of emotion this event has caused.
Breathe, everybody. Just BREATHE.
I am astounded by the hatred and vitriol
that are being hurled by a judgmental public at a woman who has just gone
through what I am sure was one of the most heart-stoppingly terrifying moments
in her life. A 400-lb. brute of a beast
was dragging her CHILD underwater, with
his head bouncing along the bottom of a concrete moat! It was NOT playing with or protecting the
little boy. It was hauling him around
and crouching over him, which many wild animals do just before they kill their
prey. Thank God that the zoo officials
took action as swiftly as they did in order to save the child’s life. It wasn’t a matter of making the “right”
choice. In this situation, THEY HAD NO
CHOICE!
Now, I can feel the rush of
righteous indignation rising up against me as I say these words. And I have to admit, when faced with the
question, “Shouldn’t this mother have been keeping a better watch on her child?”,
my initial response was a resounding, “YES!”.
But memories of some of my own motherhood moments started creeping in
and changed my response to, “Probably”. And
after more memories and more thought, I would have to say the best answer I can
now give to that question is, “Maybe”.
We were not there. We did not see what happened from beginning
to end. There is no way we can judge the
mother and say that she is a bad parent because she wasn’t paying
attention. We live in a world that is
rife with distractions. Sometimes things
get past us, even when we are sure that we are paying close attention. When my younger son was four, he was
absolutely fearless and would climb on or over any place he could get a
toe-hold. And he was FAST! One second I could have him firmly by the
hand and before I could blink, he would break loose and be on top of something,
smiling and saying, “Look at me, Mommy!”
Just because the little boy got away from her doesn’t mean the mother
wasn’t paying attention. I am sure that
nothing anyone can say to or about her could possibly be worse than what she is
saying to herself. And, in the midst of
this terrifying situation, what did this mother do? Instead of carrying on and having a screaming
melt-down (which many of the onlookers were doing and clearly, exacerbating the
animal’s agitation), she was speaking calmly to her son. She called his name and told him to be
calm. She said, over and over, “Mommy is
right here. I am not going to leave
you. I am here, and I love you.” She must have been thinking that it would be
the last time her child would hear her voice, but she did all she could to
remind him that he was not alone and that he was loved. That, in my humble opinion, is not an example
of being a bad mother.
So now, instead of being able to
recover from this horrifying event, this family has to worry about being
arrested, having their children taken away from them, and even bodily harm, all
because a large portion of the public, in their uninformed fury, are calling
for vengeance over the death of an ANIMAL.
And I have to wonder why none of this indignant, retribution-seeking
public seems to be willing to stand up for the babies that are killed on a
daily basis in our country’s abortion clinics.
The rights of a 400-lb. wild beast are more important than the rights of
unborn human children. I can only shake
my head.
In closing, I would like to
relate an event that occurred when my older son was little. He was a toddler, just beginning to be able
to go places and do things on his own.
One day, my parents came up for a visit.
In all of the hugging, kissing and welcoming when they arrived, no one
noticed that the front door didn’t close completely. My Daddy sat down in the living room and I
took my Mama back into my bedroom to show her something. I, mistakenly, thought my Daddy was keeping
an eye on my son. My Daddy, mistakenly,
thought my son had gone back into the bedroom with me. In actuality, my son had pulled open the
front door and toddled down the front steps, probably reveling in his new-found
freedom. When I came back into the
living room, imagine my panic when I saw only my Daddy and the front door
standing open. I cannot accurately discribe the feeling of absolute despair I felt as I flew out the front door
screaming my son’s name. We lived at the
corner of a very busy road and our yard was not fenced. I found my son around the side of the house,
smiling and happy to be outside. That
happened almost 24 years ago and the memory of that day still makes my throat
close up and my stomach hurt.
Now, could the results of that
day have been horrible and heart-breaking?
Absolutely it could. Was I a bad
parent that day? I don’t think so. Should my Daddy and I have been arrested for
not keeping a closer watch on my child?
No, absolutely not. Should I have
had my child taken away from me due to my negligence? NO. BECAUSE IT WAS AN ACCIDENT.
It is easy to judge someone else
when you don’t have all the facts. But
to use that judgment to hurl hate at someone you’ve never met, even to the
point of calling for her arrest, injury and death is just SHAMEFUL. Y’all, please take a breath and give this
poor mama a break. She made a
mistake. We all make mistakes. Her mistake and its results are just more
public than ours. How fortunate we are
that our Father forgives us when we make mistakes. We should do the same.
