a human, a lion, and their glass boxes.

Ever since a young age, I have had a fascination with cats. My aunt always had little furry friends running around her house, and before my family adopted some of our own I had developed an understanding of their body language, and personalities. I guess I became obsessed with the idea of being a cat lady at a young age, even adopting "coolcatnat23" as my aim screen name.

As I got older, I started to decorate my body with tattoos that symbolize important things in my life. My second tattoo of choice is a lion on my inner foot. I was prompted to recieve this tattoo after surviving my first year as a member of Alpha Delta Pi Sorority, who's mascot is "Alphie" the lion. Other powerful reason why I chose to permanently place a lion on my body include; my zodiac sign being a leo, my Harry Potter house-- Gryffindor, refering to my hair as an "unruly" lion's mane, and lions being the queen/king of the jungle.

During a recent trip to the Naples Zoo in Florida, I was super excited to visit the lion exhibit. I instantly fell in love with the zoo's effort to educate their visitors on their animals, and to promote conservation and animal protection. On the way to see the lions, I had already planned out a perfect social media post to capture the moment that I would come face to face with my favorite animal. I had even worn a shirt with a lion on it, and had curled my hair to be picture perfect. The idea of posing with the lions, and sharing the images on social media with the caption to my pictures as "had a #riproaring time at the zoo." had consumed my mind all morning.

There was a glass window that separated a crowd of people, including myself, from the magestic lions. The lion and his lioness were basking in the Florida sun, and trying to avoid socializing with the humans that were huddled around-- trying to get their best look at the animals. At once, the lion lifted his head and grazed his eyes over the crowd in front of him. The lions, and all of the animals at the zoo, were on display for the pleasure of people to stare and take pictures. As the lion stared back at us, I realized that humans are animals too.

To the lions, the constant lack of privacy was something that they had become acustomed to. It had occured to me that humans view each other through the glass lenses of our phones on a daily basis. I felt guilty for wanting to use an animal that felt like an old friend for something as trivial as social media. As a human, I realized I was held under the same lack of privacy as the animals at the zoo. Social media gives us all the option to lurk, pretend, and share information with the world. Humans created zoos as a way to see, and become educated on, animals from various parts of the world that they wouldn't usually see in their own backyards. Humans created social media to form, and maintain, connections with people that they probably shouldn't see in their backyards. To me, it is amazing to think about how society has used their glass boxes to trap and control both humans and animals. Just when we think we are living a free life, how free are we really with the importance of our technology in our every day lives? The lions have become accustomed to their glass. Humans have become addicted to their screens. Funny to think about, isn't it?

#animals #zoo #conservation #thoughts #socialmedia #lions