THINGS ARE NOT ALWAYS THE WAY THEY SEEM

In December of 2005, I had a unique opportunity to visit a zoo in the middle of nowhere. The zoo-keepers hand-raised most of the animals-- including the tigers-- in their own home from cubs. The tigers and lions were all trained to walk on leashes. During my visit, a tiger snuffled my hand, a white wolf cub let me hold her and she licked my face, I got to rub a baby alligator's tummy, and I held banana slices for a squirrel-monkey to take. All of the animals had names and relationships with everyone who worked there.

Before visiting the zoo, I possessed many of the typical stereotypes of zoos, zoo-keepers, and tigers. While I was there, a state official dropped in. The state official was not well-acquainted with the interactions between the zoo workers and the animals. That was obvious from the first. The state official was upset because there was a photograph of a woman kissing one of the tigers in the backseat of a car. The tiger was unrestrained. Horrors! In actuality, the woman and the tiger had mutual respect for each other's space. The tiger was on his way to the vet because he has suffered a seizure. The state official-- whose job it is to enforce "the laws" concerning the tigers and other animals at the zoo-- was thoroughly unacquainted with the evidence presented before him. He is suffering from his own stereotypes and he does not know it nor does he care.

All of us are victimized by our own prejuidices, stereotypes, and false beliefs. This is true especially when it concerns other human beings who we refuse to have genuine relationships with because they have been identified as "other" or "different" or "stranger." We are xenophobic. We allow our own refusal to embrace the "other" in our selves to translate in a refusal to examine other evidence set before us.

Thus, words become "dirty," censorship is cleverly disguised on the internet as "policies," and religious people can freely publicize such messages as "love the sinner, hate the sin." All of these things are ways to attempt control over people, ideas, and concepts that have true power. True power is knowing what our own fears are about "the other" and choosing to embrace those fears until they crumble.

As my fears of the "other" crumbled at the zoo, I was able to perceive a different way of being. A woman kissing a sick unrestrained tiger in the backseat of a car on the way to a vet became a reality that opened up endless possibilities. If I had allowed myself to cling to my own false ideas, I would not have known the joy of a tiger snuffling my hand.

-spike q

p.s. did you know that peacocks can FLY?