There But For The Grace Of God...

I've been lying awake stewing over this particular issue long enough this morning to feel compelled to post, but it might cost me some friends. The accident at the zoo in which the gorilla was shot and killed to protect the 4-year-old boy who crawled into the enclosure was a terrible, terrible thing. It was a perfect storm of things that went wrong: an enclosure that was apparently not as secure as everyone thought, a mom who didn't take her son seriously when he said he wanted to go see the gorilla up close, you name it. But I am not ranting about the existence of zoos, or the choice to shoot to kill rather than tranquilize, or any of that. I am ranting about those people who are posting things calling that mother a "bitch", saying she should have her children taken away from her, saying she should be shot and killed as "Justice for Harambe". You know what? You are a f*cking terrible person. Let me explain why I feel this way right now. I have read comment after comment from people basically saying the same thing: "She is a bad parent because she let her child out of her sight. She is at fault. She is a terrible person and should be punished. [Here's where it really gets me steamed.] One of the following: I DON'T HAVE KIDS, BUT IF I DID, THIS WOULD NEVER HAPPEN TO THEM BECAUSE I WOULD WATCH THEM LIKE A HAWK. Or I WATCH MY CHILDREN 100% OF THE TIME; THAT EXPLAINS WHY NOTHING BAD LIKE THIS HAS EVER HAPPENED TO MY CHILDREN." I'm sorry, but if you believe that you are the reason nothing bad has happened to your kids, that you have kept an eye on them 100% of the time, round the clock, YOU ARE AN SANCTIMONIOUS IDIOT. No parent is perfect. And nobody, not a single person, not even the Immaculate Mary, has watched their kid 100% of the time. It's not possible. The reason nothing bad has happened to your kid is because you are lucky or blessed. And let's face it, nobody is always lucky or blessed. If you think you are a perfect parent and better than everyone else, I invite you to unfriend me right now. Because everyone makes mistakes. We don't all make the same mistakes, and we don't all make them in the same places. One of the thoughts that went through my mind when I read the news story was, Thank God that wasn't Brendan. Because kids are like Weeping Angels from Doctor Who: they are fast, faster than you can believe, and so you'd better not blink. Because there will come a day that you SWEAR you are watching your kid 100% of the time but you suddenly realize they aren't standing right next to you in the women's department of Target, or they aren't still playing on the floor with their legos, or they aren't on the swing on the playground even though they were JUST THERE, or God forbid you hear a screech of tires and realize your child is running into the street after a ball even though you've told him 100 times to never do that. The kid apparently told his mom he wanted to go in and see the gorilla, and she should have taken that seriously. But kids also say things like, "I'm going to go live on the moon" and "I'm going to marry my teddy bear." And you're supposed to magically know when to take that comment seriously? How do you know when a kid is going to act on something? YOU DON'T. The woman also had several children with her; should she have had another adult with her to help her with the load? Perhaps, but why does this suddenly justify a thousand Internet comments screaming for her head? Yes, a terrible, terrible accident has occurred, and heartbreakingly an animal has lost its life because of it. But if you think that this justifies death threats towards this parent, and you AREN'T A PARENT: Shut the f*ck up. And if you ARE A PARENT and you are spewing this crap right now, I want you to repeat after me: THERE BUT FOR THE GRACE OF GOD GO I. Because it COULD be your kid, no matter how awesome of a parent you THINK you are. So shut the f*ck up. YOU ARE WHAT IS WRONG WITH SOCIAL MEDIA. Go ahead and do us both a favor and click "Unfriend" now. Rant over.