Lessons we can learn from the San Diego Zoo elephants

For the sake of my mental health, in recent years, I have made a conscious effort not to watch as much news on TV, not visit as many news websites on my computer or phone, or spend as much time on social media.

Far more often than not, it is negativity that abounds in these mediums. Quite frankly, checking the news is depressing, and I have enough dark thoughts in my head that bring me down that I don't need help confirming how messed up our world and humanity has become.

But earlier this week there was a rare news item that caught my eye that did make me smile. On Monday, a 5.2 magnitude earthquake shook southern California. No, the thought of an earthquake and a pending apocalypse was not what brought me joy. I'm not that sick.

What brought me some momentary joy was something phenomenal that happened at the San Diego Zoo during the earthquake. It was a display of pure love. It was proof to me that we are all born with love in our hearts.

Hatred and evil is something we learn with our brains. Hate and evil don't come natural.

We were not born with those traits. We are taught them or, for whatever reason, we seek them like Adam yearning for an apple.

The inspiring footage I refer to is of three beautiful adult and two younger, adorable African elephants milling around in different sections of their habitat at the San Diego Zoo just prior to the earthquake occurring. Once the ground started shaking, the elephants sensed the danger and rushed to a central location to be together.

It was as if they had practiced a fire drill at school. Instinctively, the adult elephants surrounded the younger 7-year female elephant, Mkhaya, and formed, what is known as, an "alert circle." The baby elephant's brother, Zuli, stood with the adults on the outside protecting his twin sister. One of the adult elephants can be seen patting brave Zuli on the head as if to comfort and reassure him.

They remained in this formation for four minutes until they were sure the threat had subsided and the coast was clear. It is breathtaking to watch. How did they learn to do this? I was amazed.

Having buried my mother four years ago this week, the sight of this family of elephants coming together in a time of crisis brought a tear to my eye. This instinctive behavior showed the bond and the strength of family. This was unconditional love and selflessness at its finest. This was what a visual representation of what my mother meant to me.

My eyes watered up not only because of what I was witnessing with this family of elephants, but also because of what I was now missing in my life. I am now without my one strongest protector – my biggest, strongest elephant, if you will - standing before me, shielding me from the dangers of the world. I feel the reverberations of the world more and more every day. I feel exposed.

I know I am not a seven year old like Mkhaya or brave Zuli. I am in my early 50's now, but I can't help but to feel more vulnerable and alone than I have ever felt in my life.

It amazes me that an animal as big and intimidating as an elephant can be is as gentle, intelligent, and emotional as they really are.

I was amazed, a couple of years ago, when I came across a video on YouTube of an elephant drawing – of all things – a happy, smiling elephant holding a flower. A self portrait perhaps?

The word "amazing" doesn't even begin to describe the act that I witnessed. The elephant would draw perfect shapes and then, precisely, retrace the lines to accentuate them. As if drawing a perfect elephant wasn't enough, the elephant, named Suda, even signs her name at the end. Showoff!

We, as humans, like to think of ourselves as the end all and be all of creation. We are arrogant enough to believe there is no other life form in our vast universe. Even if there are other life forms in the universe, surely they cannot be as smart as us, humans, here on Earth. Usually when scientists talk about discovering life on other planets, they are talking about, possibly, finding water on other planets which might contain amoebas of some sort.

The idea of there being actual, intelligent (gasp - more intelligent than us?) life forms beyond our planet is something that our society doesn't want to believe. We want to believe we, humans, are the smartest, most advanced society that exists. I think, therefore I am... the smartest thing in existence!

Elephants prove to us (or to me, anyways) that humans have lost sight of something extremely valuable somewhere along the line of our evolution. Elephants prove to us that we are born with love and caring in our DNA. What countless people witnessed on Monday – as this video went viral and circulated the world for millions to see – should serve as a wake up call and a call to action... but it won't.

As humans have evolved, we have lost the value and importance of family. We have lost our sense of community.

We have become self-centered. We have become, excessively, materialistic and greedy. We have lost the sense of empathy. We have lost the sense of compassion for something other than ourselves.

What this family of elephants displayed during the earthquake should remind us we are stronger when we band together. We are on this earth to comfort each other and to help and protect each other. We have each other's back.

We should stand together as one. E pluribus unum.

You didn't see the elephants running in different directions and hiding behind rocks when the earth started shaking. The second they sensed danger, they didn't run scared and take an every man (or, in this case, elephant) for themselves approach – only worried about their own individual well-being.

No, without hesitation, they ran to be together in a centralized location – out in the open – where they could assess the danger. They were willing to face the danger head on, together as one.

They were never taught this. They didn't have an instruction manual or an escape plan posted on a tree showing them where to go or what to do in case of an emergency. They just, instinctively, knew.

We, as humans, know this, too. Yet, more often than not, we choose to ignore it.

We have become more isolated. Our awareness of our surroundings has become limited to the length of our arms. That is where we hold our phones, after all.

Just this week I went down a rabbit hole on YouTube I didn't intend on. I found myself thinking of Madisyn Baldwin.

Who is Madisyn Baldwin, you ask? You know her. You may just know her as a statistic, but you know her. Madisyn is one of over 200 children who have been killed in school shootings since Columbine in 1999.

Madisyn's life was taken on November 30, 2021 when a 15-year-old decided to open fire at Oxford High School just outside of Detroit, Michigan. Madisyn was one of four children whose life was ended, needlessly, on that day.

Again, she was one of over 200 kids killed since 1999 in school shootings. She was one of four killed on that day at Oxford High School. She has become a statistic. She has become a number. She has become a section of a line on a graph.

But Madisyn is not just a number to me. She was, and is, family to me. Madisyn was the granddaughter of my cousin.

Never, in a million years, did I think a family member of mine would be one of these students I've seen on the news killed, tragically, in a school shooting. But it has happened to my family.

But why did this happen? And why does it continue to happen?

When I saw the response of those elephants this week, I found myself thinking of Madisyn. I found myself thinking of the parents of the deranged kid who killed her. The gun that was used in the shooting was given to the 15-year-old shooter by his parents as a Christmas gift. He was 15!

There were so many red flags that were ignored. The warning signs were, by no means, subtle. They were very obvious.

Many bear responsibility. Not only the parents, but the school administration, as well. I don't care to rehash the details again which show the school's ignorance and negligence and how all this could have been avoided... and how Madisyn should still be with us.

The information is all out there for us to learn from. But we don't. As I write this, there has been a school shooting in Dallas, Texas which injured four students. This same school had a shooting there last year!

Madisyn's school failed to form an "alert circle" around her the day she died – just like the elephants knew, without hesitation, to surround and protect Mkhaya. Why do elephants know what to do and us, humans, don't?

The school administrators didn't have their eyes open to the imminent danger that was reverberating in the school. They didn't come together and take notice of their surroundings. They were distracted by other, seemingly, more important tasks – like, maybe, doing evaluations or scheduling meetings.

And what about the parents of the killer? They were so negligent in their parental duties that they were charged – a rarity (possibly, even a first) for parents of a shooter – and found guilty of involuntary manslaughter for providing the gun to their son.

How much more different could those scumbag parents – who both had criminal backgrounds – be from those elephants at the zoo? And we, humans, are supposed to be the superior life form?

We are supposed to be more evolved than others in the animal kingdom? We think of ourselves as the top of the evolution chain?

Take a closer look around at nature and the interaction of animals within families and packs. You may start second guessing yourself.

I wasn't intending on getting into a gun control debate, but isn't it time we form "alert circles' around our vulnerable kids? It is not only a parent's responsibility to protect their children, but it is a community's responsibility to make sure all children are safe. We all need to surround the children in our society and make them feel safe from whatever danger is out there, seen or unseen.

We need to be able to pat them on the head and let them know everything will be alright. More importantly, we have to mean it.

It is not hard to look out for one another. We are born with that ability. It is in us. It is easy. It is, literally, second nature. Those elephants proved it.

It is much harder to be selfish and greedy. It is much more difficult and dangerous to choose to step on, and stampede over each other in order to preserve ourselves. It goes against the grain. It goes against nature. Why do we fight it? We are born with love. We learn to hate.

Alone, we are vulnerable. Together, we can stand up to anything. Elephants know. Why don't we?