Ever since the news of the senseless and illegal killing of the Cecil the Lion essentially broke the internet last week I have been struggling to collect my thoughts and make an attempt to make some sense of this story. It's been difficult to wrap my brain around the circumstances surrounding a dude from Minneapolis who willingly paid $50,000 to a guy in Zimbabwe for the right and privilege to shoot and kill a protected (and named) lion with a bow and arrow.
Now, for the sake of full disclosure, I do not hunt, so I cannot understand the motivation and desire to shoot and kill animals for sport. I certainly cannot understand the desire to pay $50,000 for the right to do so. I can think of a whole lot of other things I would choose to spend that kind of cash on so I will defer to my friends who do hunt as to why such a trip to Africa would be enticing.
There is still a whole lot we don't know about this story. But no matter the motivation or the sketchy circumstances surrounding the hunt we do know this: Cecil the Lion is dead and the internet is freaking out about it. While I join with the multitudes in grieving the loss of this creation of God, I am particularly interested in the question of why we are spending so much time focusing on one hunt, one animal, one hunter, and one death. What is it about this story that has enabled it to capture the hearts of so many?
Three things come to mind:
1. The outrage/grief/dismay/indignation is not really about Cecil at all.
The truth of the matter is that the news of Cecil's death hit the interwebs at exactly the right (wrong) time. There has been a whole heck of a lot of death in the news recently. Way, way, way too much death. Whether it be Charleston, the Aurora, CO shooting trial, the resumed search for MH370, or just the senseless day-to-day killings that occur coast to coast we, as a people, have been dealing with a lot of death. While we are shocked, horrified, and saddened by these events, it is inevitable that after a while we cannot help but be de-sensitized to it all.
But then, one day, a big lion name Cecil gets shot by an arrow and in that moment we have our humanity re-awakened and we collectively lament the loss of a completely innocent animal. It was Joseph Stalin, of all people who mused that, "One death is a tragedy and one million is a statistic." In the outrage that has sprung up over the death of Cecil the Lion I cannot help but wonder if what is really happening is that we, as a people, are starting to re-awaken ourselves to the ability to be outraged over the death of all of God's Creation. Perhaps Cecil's death will be the catalyst that will prompt us as a people to finally stand up and say, "Let's stop killing everything, please?"
2. We each can see a bit of ourselves in the one who has become the world's most despised hunter.
There is another side to this story, and it is one that I suspect that most of us would rather not acknowledge. I wonder if part of the righteous indignation that we are expressing in regards to Cecil's death is form of ceasing to acknowledge that we each could have very well have been the one who sent that arrow towards its target. What this guy did was pay a ton of money to go to a place where he could get away with killing something that was otherwise safe and protected. Reports suggest that this was not the first time that this man had committed some illegalities while out on the hunt. Essentially, what we have here is a guy who went to great lengths to tap into the desire to exact violence. without (supposedly) any consequences attached to his actions.
Tragically, we are seeing these sort of stories playing themselves out in real time much more often that we'd like to acknowledge or admit. The newest example of this comes in the form of Americans being recruited to fight alongside ISIS (and similar groups) with the promise of safety, glory, and a righteous cause.
Action, Adventure, and Death have lured plenty of folks into the great unknown. The path of peace and nonviolence is a difficult one and it proves to be a daily struggle to not give into the primal instincts that exist within us.
3. Apparently, arguing over about what we should be outraged is now a thing.
If the internet is any guide, it would appear that we are now being forced to choose over what injustice we will allow to pull at our heartstrings. I did not know this, but evidently it is now only possible to have our spirit torn by one thing at a time. According to some, we cannot be upset about Cecil the Lion AND the killing of unarmed black men (or mass shootings, or unborn babies, etc). Do we not see how ridiculous this is? Why is it that we are now allowing a narrative to exist that declares what is and what is not worthy of our broken hearts? Why can't I be outraged that a guy from Minnesota would go shoot a lion AND that there are those who do not want to pay fast food workers a living wage?
I will continue to grieve Cecil and I invite others to openly and without apology. At the same time I will be outraged by the killing of the mind, body, spirit, and dignity of our fellow humans. Finally, in the midst of our internet-based witch hunt for Cecil's killer, let us have the humility to recognize that this dentist from Minnesota could be any one of us.