The stories sound so similar; parent out with a young child, both little boys and the child faces tragedy. The first story happened at the Cincinnati Zoo. By now you know the story. Little boy gets away from the mother and ends up in the space with a Silverback gorilla. I was amazed how many friends of mine only saw a part of the video of the child and gorilla. They only saw the part where the gorilla seemed to petting the child. They wanted to argue with me and told me that at no time was the child in danger and defended the gorilla. Thank goodness for an iPhone. As they say on TV talk shows “let’s run the tape.” When these friends saw the gorilla drag the boy by his foot like a ragdoll through the water barely missing the iron grate that could have knocked him out or killed him they were shocked and convinced that the gorilla had to be taken down.
Fast forward to Orlando Florida and parents are having a good time with their children outside of their hotel and an alligator snatches their little boy. It’s funny how similar the stories are, both little boys, parents had multiple children with them when the incidents occurred, both out for a time of leisure in a public place. You may remember the Ohio mother was criticized, there were petitions supporting the gorilla, social media was full of pictures of gorillas with captions “I’m taking better care of the little boy than the mother.” It was insane. And then the background of the father was investigated and we found that the parents were Black.
None of this happened with the Florida parents. No one seems to have questioned why the parents were not holding the little boy’s hand. There have been no petitions to crucify the parents. It was quickly revealed that the family was from Nebraska and that the father was a pillar of the community and yes the family was White. No one asked why they were in water when the sign said no swimming. There was a call to “get that gator” and numerous gators were slain.
Both of these stories are tragic and of course one more than the other because losing a child is horrific. I hope the portion of the public who has come out and blamed the parents for what happened in both incidents thinks twice the next time. You don’t know a situation unless you are there. When I was in Florida the thought of encountering an alligator did not cross my mind. I felt safe and we had fun. However I am happy to hear that signs have been placed warning people about alligators and snakes. Now let’s hope people will read and heed the signs.
One of my biggest pet peeves is people who do not follow the rules, those people that feed the birds when it says not to, the ones who go into the fountain when it clearly says stay out of the fountain. Pray for our world, pray for peace.
(Email the columnist at debbienorrell@aol.com)
Like us at https://www.facebook.com/pages/New-Pittsburgh-Courier/143866755628836?ref=hl
Follow @NewPghCourier on Twitter https://twitter.com/NewPghCourier
