Experience is Understanding

I volunteer at the Detroit Zoo. I love working with the animals and seeing kids and adults faces light up when they get to see these amazing creatures in real life. On this one particular day, I was lucky to volunteer in an exhibit called Snares to Wares. If you haven't checked it out, you really should. Person after person would come into this exhibit, look at the art and quickly go to the next exhibit. It wasn't until an hour into my shift that I decided to enlighten these visitors to Butcherman's story. After I would tell his story, their jaws would drop and they looked at the exhibit with a new appreciation and new eyes. This is something we should all live by. Sometimes when we have our mind on other things or go quickly through life, we forget to stop and learn. We forget to stop and understand. We forget that google cant tell us everything, that sometimes we need to experience it in order to grow. When people walked in they saw a cool statue of a lion. Sometimes things aren't what we think they are.

So my challenge for you today, is to stop and listen. To ask questions, to give undivided attention to someone. To stop thinking and being selfish and selflessly be present and I can guarantee you will learn more about this person in 10 minutes than in 10 years.

Butcherman's Story:

Butcherman was a Male lion who led the Delta pride in Muchison Falls State Park in Uganda. About a year into his rule, his hind leg was caught in a snare wire. A field amputation saved his life, but the team gave him a dismal chance for survival. What they didn't know was that this lion was a fighter. For the next 3 years, he fathered Cubs and continued to lead his pride. After his death, a group of volunteers and artists from Uganda and Michigan State University went into the national park and collected boxes of snare wire. These snare wires were formed, welded and created into a magnificent sculpture of Butcherman. Not only did this lion survive the slimmest chances, he has also saved hundreds if not thousands of other animal's lives with the removal of the snare wires.

Butcherman serves as a reminder that if we live our lives with hope in the slimmest of chances, fight for the things we want and look up every once and awhile, we can truly start living our best lives.