Falling Into the Lap of a Gorilla

      Hundreds of people were visiting the zoo that day. It was a day like many others, but what happened next caused it to be “a day apart.”

      The family prefers to remain anonymous, but Dad and Mom took Junior to the zoo that day. The little tyke was a year old, and the family figured he’d really like this exhibit. Pop hoisted his son up on the rock wall of the gorilla exhibit. It was an open air viewing facility, and the gorilla environment was twenty-five feet below them.

     Suddenly, the unthinkable happened. The little boy fell off the wall, but fortunately landed on his rump. However, he landed with a horrible thud, and lay unconscious on the rocky floor of the enclosure.

     Several big male gorillas scampered around, and a couple moved in for a closer look. But not before a big mother ape managed to reach the little boy. The crowd gasped. Everyone expected the worst. And the worst, in this case, probably doesn’t need much explaining. Junior might easily have become monkey food that day.

     But this was both a curious and sympathetic old ape. A man with a movie camera happened to record the sight. “Carla,” the gorilla, picked up the limp child, and at the same time stared down the other gorillas. Now she walked a few steps with the boy. Then she seemed to rock the little fella, as if to say, “wake up, baby.” The crowd could only shake their heads, and gasp in awe.

    Within a scant few minutes, “the monkey handlers” moved in with a large hose, and turned the water on all the gorillas, including the sympathetic old ape. This was their signal to move into a holding pen. So, they ran quickly out of the enclosure, leaving the little boy alone; on the rocky floor of the exhibit. He was easily rescued, and made a full recovery. "Mike" is in grade school now, and lives “somewhere in the mid-west.” The unexpected had occurred that day. The empathetic old gorilla passed that momentary test called “Compassion.” She was lauded by the nation, and The Chicago Zoo took advantage of the media blitz to print literature, and shirts emblazoned with Carla’s photograph.

     As Christians we are commanded to practice empathy. Oh, we recognize the opportunities, but we sometimes let them pass us by.

    We may be “going about our business,” when someone, not unlike that little boy, “falls” into our sphere of influence.

    Sadly, we often find ourselves showing far less compassion than “Carla “ did that day.

 

By William McDonald, PhD. Excerpt from "Musings"