When I was about sixteen years old arriving at the San Diego Zoo with my parents, we realized that until that moment, I had never been to the zoo! (Tragic, I know.) This lack of zoo experiences as a kid perhaps explains my eager childlike impulses when I go to the zoo today. I get really excited. As you can see, I made a couple friends at the Israel Zoo. I thoroughly enjoyed the giraffes and storks and the fish without eyes and squirrel monkeys were especially fascinating and entertaining. But the best part of the day was meeting a fellow homosapien on the playground.
While I was taking a picture of a friend, this kid came up to me and motioned me to come over and play with him. We proceeded to take pictures together on every different mosaic animal. It was awesome.
Walking around Jerusalem everyday, it's easy to get annoyed with the security issues. 99% of the time, I feel safe, but there are definitely streets where I've trained my eyes not to make eye contact with anyone (especially men) for fear of sending a misunderstood message. Especially while traveling, this apprehensive behavior is out of character. Nature's instinct is to observe absolutely everything and take it all in.
Thankfully though, the saving aspect of this unfortunate situation has been the kids. Kids are always safe to look at. There is no threat involved and mostly kids are just as curious in looking at me as I am at them. Kids have no preconceived judgements about Americans. No locked up role for women. No longterm grudges. I'm so grateful for the kids here. In a big way, they are the small light of hope to a difficult situation--hope which is very much needed. Here's to my playground playmate, unafraid and eager to simply spend a couple minutes enjoying the company of a fellow human being.
No comments:
Post a Comment