Tuesday, April 2, 2013

In the mist


So there are some problems with this obituary. I could do without the line, "Even at 40, her looks were pretty much in tact." Would they write that about a MALE gorilla, hmmm?? They would NOT.
That picture above is about the cutest picture ever. So maybe this is all an excuse to repurpose that image. But the fact of the matter is that only a few months ago, I would have glanced over this piece and barely stopped to read it. I'm not an animal person. Then I got an animal.
I grew up with pets, and even had a cat for several years of my adult life. But then something changes and a particular pet enters your life and you're a little older and more interested in care taking and all hell breaks loose and you're texting pictures to your friends and loved ones and they are pretending to be amused by a disgusting creature that bites and scratches. Not long after we got this cat, I was reading a book in which something awful happens to a dog--not even the same species--and I had to put the book down. Right now I'm ignoring her as her little teeth ruin an article of clothing I am currently wearing. It's like something happened to my actual heart and suddenly I stop and read articles about dead gorillas because I look at their faces and they remind me of a cat.
It's stupid. It's boring. It's deeply uncool. It reveals every part of me that I'd like to ignore and my god, if you think this means I'm now interested in YOUR pet you are dead wrong.
But I get it now. I get why an entire city of people who hate other people were enamored of Pattycake gorilla. She was born adorable, beat the odds to survive, lived long enough for people to grow up with her, have kids of their own, and take them to the zoo to meet her. She's a teddy bear and wild beast and local monument all in one. She is terrifying and uncomplicated and her eyes belong to a primate and it's hard not to respond to that.
Nobody's innocent except animals. That's debatable, of course, but in the moment you look at them, you feel it to be true.