I'll first start this off by saying: by no means am I justifying either side of any situation, society annoys me because way too often I read comments that are ignorant and blown out of proportion. Opinions are amazing and I love hearing all different sides of these contradictory events, however sometimes, people can be plain out cruel, so none of that here.

This article is my opinion in regards to the devastating accidents that have occurred recently in our country, pertaining to young children; with the "perpetrating" Gorilla and Alligator. I don't know all the facts about either situations, just from what I've read and watched through the news. Nonetheless, through having studied how children develop for the past 4 years, as a new college graduate with my Bachelors of Science in Elementary Education, this is my perspective;

I am going to combine both situations into one because I feel the same about each of them. I've read more about the Gorilla incident in Cincinnati than I have about the Gator in Florida, but in both cases, children were involved in two horrifying accidents.

That's what these incidents were to me; unfortunate accidents.

We could all sit here and debate back in forth who was at fault, but when it's all said and done, two children were put in serious danger, one turned out okay, the other didn't (bless his soul). I've heard a variety of comments such as:
"The parents should be beaten so they know how it feels".
"The Zoo or park should be closed down".
"The Gorilla/Alligator should be killed".

These comments aren't going to bring any positivity into an already negative situation. Now I know there are some hateful people in this world we live in, but I have no doubt in my mind that the parents weren't absolutely devastated in each situation, one lost a child and the other most likely thought that would be the end result.

Saying that the parents are at fault doesn't make sense to me because children are just that, they are children. Especially at young ages, children don't know any better. They can walk up to a boa constructer amused and ready to make a new friend without the slightest conscious of knowing what that snake really wants to do with them. Yes parents should always keep close supervision on their children but we all need to stick to reality here. Especially as a teacher, I have experienced that children move so fast, and because of this, because of their constant fascination and curiosity of their surroundings, unfortunately accidents like these happen. Rather than throwing blame on an adult who already is putting the blame on themselves, to me, it makes more sense to learn from these accidents, take better precautions and hope for them to not happen again.

In relation to the debates about the park/zoo being closed down and the animals being killed, I don't find these justifiable conclusions because who wins here? Both places should certainly have more warnings about these situations happening or more ways to learn about these different animals but I'm sure if you go to both locations, they have already added precautions like that. We can all relate to not always following the rules and there are still going to be situations where individuals ignore the warning signs posted and do what they please. We can't put the blame in the areas them-self then because just as the parents, I'm sure they already have a sense of guilt and in their defense, this accident was again, more of a lesson learned in hope to not occur again.

It disgusts me that I even have to touch on this but in today's society, I'm beginning to not be surprised by anything. I don't know who would think that either of these animals need to have their lives ended. Not a single thought in my mind believes that either of these animals, the Gorilla or the Giraffe, truly knew the harm the child was in. You can see in the Gorilla video that while he may have drug the child across the exhibit, he was just as scared as everyone else, so he was doing what his natural instinct was. With the Alligator, who can say that the child wasn't mistaken for a dog or something the animal usually obtains in his path, again using his natural instinct for survival. For the Alligator situation, I feel that all visitors of populated areas should be knowledgeable on the reality of situations that could occur especially in Florida.

For my final little tid bit, as a teacher of these beautiful young lives, I am devastated for the loss and almost loss of two young boys. I pray for healing in every person's life that has been effected throughout the last few weeks. I pray for peace within and just for those suffering to know that someone out there understands. I understand accidents happen and I understand that children sometimes unknowingly put themselves in dangerous situations within a blink of the eye. Nothing is justified here because I don't believe that there should be any blame thrown to any individual person.

These are lessons learned for us all, unfortunately sometimes it takes something terrible to occur for us to realize these things but to prevent future selfless lives being taken, I hope everyone involved and not involved has learned these lessons and can be more proactive. And I hope that the young boy still alive is being loved more than he ever thought imaginable and to the young boy who doesn't have the chance to physically experience that unending love, I pray you Rest in Peace and watch over all of your loved ones.