Cecil the lion’s untimely, and apparently excruciating, death at the behest of a trophy hunter has captivated the world’s attention, and brought derisive comments about others who spend great sums of money — $50,000 for a single event apparently isn’t unusual — to kill exotic animals only to display their heads.
Whether any or all is appropriate is personal choice, but it is sorrowful that so much comment has filled the media and social networks about the death of a lion, albeit a seemingly friendly fellow, and so little ever is said or written about the plight of millions of children who struggle to make it through each day.
The U.S. has its share of children so afflicted, and many, many others elsewhere in the world are beset by living conditions, including meager amounts of food, beyond the pale in comparison to how many of us treat our pets.
Easy it is to discount the unseen, and for most of us that is exactly what children’s suffering is. It is hidden away in inner cities, in poverty-stricken rural areas where folks seldom travel, in private and abusive circumstances. We see it occasionally in documentaries and gratuitous “news” reports, but first-hand experience is a rare occurrence.
Rather than being so quick to defend the rights of animals — although there is a place — we should look closely at what can be done to help those poor little souls left to starve and suffer and die.
Honestly, they count much more than a lion, or for those who came to his defense, the so-called “hunter” who essentially shot a fish in a barrel.
— Bob Johnson
