Saturation Point

This past week, the entire world mourned the death of Cecil the lion, who was killed in Zimbabwe by a dentist from Minnesota. The dentist had to close his practice and go into seclusion as “the hunter became the hunted.” I didn’t make that clever phrase up. Every media outlet is using it, or ones like it, including “the hunter has become the prey.”

I understand the outrage; the glory days of the great white hunters, like Hemingway, are long gone. On Facebook, one guy went so far as to say “Well, at least Hemingway shot himself.” That was a little cold.

The ramifications of the dentist’s action are far from over. He’s in hiding, his home was defaced, his address has been publicized, he’s being vilified in the press, he’s facing possible extradition to Zimbabwe to face trial, and he probably won’t practice dentistry for a long while, if ever.

This whole uproar annoyed my brother, Gus. When I asked him what he thought about it, he got a little riled and said, “I don’t have time to worry about this nonsense. I’ve got plenty of my own to worry about.”

To lighten the mood, we watched a comedy, the Republican Presidential Debate. Thankfully nobody mentioned Cecil.

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A Zimbabwean’s opinion on the matter: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/05/opinion/in-zimbabwe-we-dont-cry-for-lions.html