Prior to yesterday, Walter Palmer was primarily known as a dentist from Bloomington, Minnesota. Now, he is known as the hunter whose face is ALL OVER social and offline media thanks to a picture of a grinning Palmer standing over the body of a lion he killed. But the dead animal was not just ANY lion but Cecil the Lion, who is internationally known. How big is the furor? How would Americans react if a hunter killed Smokey the Bear and then posted a picture of his smiling face standing over the carcass. Now you have a taste of what Palmer did and the overwhelming strength of the public outcry.
Before I go any further, let me share a couple of personal disclaimers. First, I am not a hunter but I have family and friends who hunt and do so primarily for food. I am an animal lover who does not eat meat. If other people choose to do so, I support that right. In addition, I was outraged by Walter Palmer's actions and expressed so on the social media today.
I strive to learn lessons from as much as possible in life, especially from incidents that spark strong reactions from me. Such was the case with Walter Palmer killing Cecil the Lion. So as I dealt with my thoughts and feelings and saw what others were saying and doing, I saw some very important lessons and reminders take shape:
Animal lovers can unite and focus with impressive intensity - I have seen this happen on my animals' Facebook pages, which caught the attention of some animals lovers in cyberspace. As a result, their pages each have about 2,000 likes with little or no action from me.
On a much bigger scale, well-known animal lovers like Ricky Gervais and Dr. Marty Becker have used social media very effectively to help and to honor animals. I have seen them bring people together to help animals in need and to bring light to tragic situations. In fact, I first read of Cecil the Lion's killing on Gervais' Facebook page.
The Internet and social media can move faster than the speed of light - In the "old days" of the Internet, stories spread over the course of days through e-mail. People would forward interesting e-mails with information and articles but usually not instantly. Oh my, how those times have changed!
Yesterday morning as I perused the Internet, I found that Walter Palmer and Cecil the Lion were ALL OVER social media and spreading faster than a wildfire on a hot, dry day. Facebook and Twitter were particularly active as indicated by the following article: http://www.buzzfeed.com/ryanhatesthis/this-is-whats-happening-to-the-dentist-who-allegedly-killed#.xbw240aLo
Outraged Animal Lovers + Internet/Social Media = Electronic Tsunami - When these forces come together, the velocity and intensity of a tsunami is a very apt description (particularly in Palmer's case). For example, take a look at what was happening to Palmer's Yelp reviews as of yesterday afternoon: http://venturebeat.com/2015/07/28/yelp-is-scrubbing-thousands-of-angry-comments-on-the-page-of-a-lion-murdering-dentist/. As I write this post, Yelp apparently pulled back as Palmer's Yelp page has over 5,000 overwhelmingly negative reviews and the number keeps going up.
With every decision (good or bad) comes a choice: the next decision - Walter Palmer's killing of Cecil the Lion is fraught with bad decision after bad decision. From luring Cecil out of protected area by baiting him to cutting the conservation tracking collar off of Cecil's dead body and at several places in between, Palmer and his guides' decisions were a series of very bad ones.
Even at the end, they could have reduced the firestorm by turning themselves in rather than having to be tracked down.I know that when I "get stupid" in my thoughts and actions, finding my way back to "smart" has been a wise decision every time.
"There is always at least one more fact, which we know nothing about, in every person’s situation" - Oswald Chambers in his book, My Utmost For His Highest.. Walter Palmer has his side of the story. In that spirit, click on the following link to read Walter Palmer's statement on what happened: http://www.startribune.com/read-the-full-statement-from-walter-palmer/318947551/
My focus needs to be on my reaction and NOT on another's actions - As an Adult Child of an Alcoholic (ACOA) who works my Al-Anon recovery, I know that the only person I can control is the one I see in the mirror (and even that's a challenge). I cannot control Walter Palmer's or anybody else's actions but I can focus on how I react. What I strive to do is to turn bad situations like the Cecil the Lion tragedy into good actions on my part. To do otherwise lets negative energy and feelings win out and what a waste of life that would be.
Jane Freund is an author, encourager, speaker and book coach who has written 17 books. Her latest book is “Fascinated by Forgiveness – A Practical Guide for Forgiving & Being Forgiven“. In addition, Jane taught Communication for ten years at Boise State University. Her books can be found at Amazon, Etsy and Smashwords.
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