Do I Entertain?

 

I’m sure you remember this guy from a few posts ago, although you only got to see his backside. I received strong feedback on that photograph, here and uniformly in other outlets.  But for the first time, I felt really moved by one of my own works. I’m easily moved by other photogs, but I think sometimes with your own stuff, you might be a little bit too close to see it.

The photograph prodded me enough to go on a Google expedition in regards to circus animals. In short, I was appalled by what I encountered. I’m not one to quickly jump on any bend, especially because with the right rhetoric, someone will make you feel bad about owning a housecat. Inside the heap of condemnation in regards to circus animals, one passage from a resigned elephant trainer stuck with me. I’m paraphrasing here, but it was “There is nothing in the nature of an elephant to stand on a large ball or stand on his front legs. They will never do it out of their own volition. Put a thousand large balls on their grazing lands and you’ll never see one sitting on one. They do it because of training. They do it because they fear the repercussions if they don’t.”