The Zoo

You’ll have to pardon my thought process tonight.

Zoos are interesting. I guess I like to go to them, but I’ve never found the perfect day to go to one. Every time I’ve been, it was so hot, the concrete was boiling. Condensation appeared on my skin and immediately turned into steam.

I’ve looked at those zoo animals and thought, “They have it made in the shade.”

Then I wonder what the animals are thinking as they look around and see hoards of people walking around and looking at them. They must think they’ve got it made, too.

Each one might think, “My goodness. I’d hate to be those people. Look at them walking around paying for overpriced food and drinks. What a drudgery of life. What a waste.”

“I’m in here, and I have free water and food, and someone comes to clean everything up every day. I have it made. This is truly the best life.”

“I can lie here in the shade or walk around. I can jump in the little pool and frolic to my heart’s content. The food service comes precisely at the same time every day. I can grow old in comfort and ease.”

But what the animals might fail to realize is that they are caged. Each one was either knocked unconscious and captured, or they were born in captivity; either way, they’ve gotten used to being handed everything. And they have been misled into being less than what they could be.

And the one’s walking around outside the cages are free.

So it is in societies where someone provides for your every need. Where the government hands a well-abled body everything for free and tells them not to worry about anything. The problem with that is, because you get everything for free probably means you’re not getting everything you could if you were free to get it yourself.

We might look at that society and think they have it made. But they’re the ones who are caged.

A society where you are free to come and go and you can do whatever you want without hindrances, so long as you aren’t a danger to someone else’s existence, is the best society and environment in which to live.

Because being provided with everything for free means, ultimately, you pay a higher price. And the cost is giving up your freedom.

I believe this applies to our lives in more ways than one. It applies in any number of ways to any number of situations.

This post is meant to be vague, although it probably isn’t. I was as indistinct as I could be.

This post isn’t about getting rid of zoos, but I have to be honest, I’d much rather see an animal in its natural habitat. No amount of stamped concrete and stucco can help me to imagine that poor polar bear living in the snowy Arctic. The green grass gives it away.

But I wouldn’t care to see him there in person. I’d rather watch a documentary about him. Safe in the comfort of my recliner and the warmth of my wife’s decorative throw blanket thingy.

So whatever this applies to, let’s ask ourselves a couple of questions. At what point do we realize that freedom isn’t free (so many have paid the price), but just giving up our freedom costs exponentially more?

And at what point do we perceive we’ve been backed into a wall and the guy handing us a get-out-of-jail-free card is the one who is also aiming the gun loaded with the tranquilizer dart?

to those living outside the cage,
– Caleb