I Am Not A Parent – Harambe And My Dogs

I Am Not A Parent – Harambe And My Dogs

Finally Free

I Am Not A Parent – Harambe And My Dogs – Rest In Peace dear gorilla. You were born as a slave – you were raised as a slave – you were displayed as a slave – you were murdered as a slave. This was done to you so humans could come to the zoo and marvel at your captivity. Your entire life, you were denied every natural inclination, that burned in your heart and soul. When the “incident” happened – through no fault of yours – you were not distracted – not darted – but destroyed, because now you were an inconvenience. That is what we humans do – we kill inconvenient things!

Rest In Peace

Now to get to get to the point of my post – let me start by saying – that I am NOT a parent to human children. So the naysayers will say – “You’re an idiot, you can’t possibly understand how fast they can scoot away”.  I do however share my life with three fur kids and we go out in public places. I do NOT walk all three of my dogs at one time? Why, you ask? Because I know my dogs. My biggest dog is 75 pounds. He is a big goofy, friendly clown. But he can be overly bouncy and curious about other dogs and kids, so I keep him on a close lead, and when I see people approaching with dogs or kids – I say, “Please stay clear”. I must add that he is almost nine years old, and has been attacked three times while he was on leash, by off-leash dogs accompanied by irresponsible owners.

My middle boy is a sweet natured seven year old. He loves everyone – cats, dogs, pigeons, squirrels and kids. But would I ever let him off his leash in public? No. My youngest six year old is a natural charmer. He would sit while a baby pulled his ears, walks like a prince, loves to go to the doggie store and listens to 99% of what I say.

Point being – I know my dogs. So I wouldn’t attempt to walk all three at a time. It would be irresponsible of me. I don’t talk on my phone when I’m out with my dogs, drink coffee, take selfies, drop their leashes or ignore their natural inclinations, because I am aware of their proclivities. I pay attention. They are my responsibility.

Of course, I am not a parent, with a child who scoots here and there and disappears in the blink of an eye. I am only a dog owner. What I do see is what passes for parenting in today’s world. I recently saw an example of this, close to a public park, at an intersection, on a very busy street. I was stopped at a red light. A boy, I’m guessing he was five, was standing close to the curb with his little scooter. He was clearly pouting and seemed to be alone. I rolled down my car window. I now hear someone screaming, “Davey, you get up here right now”. The light changes. I drive forward. The ‘mom’ is at least thirty feet up the street, cell phone in hand, holding onto a baby buggy, still screaming at Davey. This is parenting. 

Of course there are many good parents. But there are an equal number of bad ones. I was at a restaurant a few years ago when a kid, maybe six years old, came over and took a French fry off my plate. The parents thought it was cute.

I was not at the zoo on the day this kid took a header into the gorilla exhibit. I didn’t see it. I have read dozens of accounts about the event and watched the videos. I am not an animal expert. But that kid was with Harambe for ten minutes. He is alive and Harambe is dead. Maybe his parents just looked away for a minute. Maybe this kid is a tricky little fence climber. Don’t know – wasn’t there. What I do know, is that in another example of a captive animal in a zoo, an animal is dead. Someone wasn’t paying attention. Of course, I understand nothing – I am NOT a parent. I think I’ll go and take two of my three dogs out for a walk!

P.S. – I now hear that Harambe’s sperm was harvested from his corpse.

Even in death he was afforded NO dignity!