Harambe the Silverback & Armchair Critics in the Chess Game of Life

Hmmm, should we exercise our privilege to pass judgment, or perhaps look for a kinder, wiser reaction, when someone makes a questionable chess move in the game of life?

The water cooler topic of choice this past week was the unfortunate incident at a Cincinnati zoo that resulted in Silverback Gorilla Harambe being shot and killed.

If you have not heard the story, a 3-year old boy somehow got inside a restricted area and fell into the water in Harambe’s enclosure. Harambe, agitated by all the noise and activity, grabbed the boy by the arm and dragged him through the water to a quieter area of his pen.

The zoo’s dangerous animal response team was called in and made the difficult decision to shoot Harambe to protect the child.

The incident drew criticism and outrage on several fronts:

The decision to shoot and kill Harambe rather than attempt to tranquilize him. (The response team ruled out the tranquilizer option as it would have taken several minutes to take effect and might further agitate the gorilla.)

The failure of the boy’s mother to keep tabs on him and prevent him from entering the enclosure.

And the peripheral issue of whether wild animals should be captured and kept in an artificial environment for the enjoyment of humans. (Let’s leave that question for another day.)

So what is my opinion? Sorry, but I am not going to choose a side on these questions. I am not qualified to express an opinion because I was not at the scene. The perspective provided by the video footage is by nature limited and may not tell the whole story.

I cannot the judge the mother because I have no idea what was going on around her. Furthermore, I have never had children so I know little or nothing about how challenging it is to keep tabs on toddlers.

The real insight for me in this unfortunate incident is how quick we are to condemn the actions of others based on third party reports and a couple of minutes of video footage. What gives us the right to pass judgment on someone else when we were not in their shoes living the incident as it happened?

I am much more inclined to feel sympathy for the people who were caught in the middle of this tragic event. What terror and despair was the mother experiencing to see her child in mortal danger? How emotionally torn must the response team have been to have to choose between the life of the child and the life of Harambe?

Life at pivotal moments such as this one is a chessboard. There are often multiple possible actions none of which have clearly predictable outcomes. Better for us to feel sympathy for the unwilling players forced to make, or life with the consequences of, an agonizing decision – than to criticize them from our comfortable armchair in the front of the television.

~ Michael Robert Dyet is the author of “Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel” – double winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards 2009. Visit Michael’s website at www.mdyetmetaphor.com or the novel online companion at www.mdyetmetaphor.com/blog .

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