You might be thinking “why bother writing about the death of one giraffe?Yes he was cute and yes it was sad and gruesome what happened to him. But hey an elephant dies every 15 minutes, a family are made homeless every 11 minutes and most shocking of all 21 children under the age of 5 die every single minute. So what's so important about one giraffe? What does it matter in the scheme of things?”
I believe it matters for lots of reasons, the most important of which is because I believe it matters to God. I believe it matters greatly to God how we treat one another and how we treat creation. Mahatma Ghandi wrote “the greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated' I wonder what the death of Marius says about us? It would seem to me that when animals are discarded and treated as expendable simply because they are surplus to requirements or their genes are inferior it is a very sad day for them and for us and one that shames us all .
The gift of life is precious and God given and it is dishonours our Creator when we take a life casually, brutally or just because we can. We won't all be vegetarians, we won't all have been up at the crack of dawn breaking ice for our chickens or horses or sheep. We won't all think pigs are cute or rhinos are beautiful. But please lets all think carefully how we live, how we treat the animals entrusted to us and how we safeguard their future as well as that of our children.
I have written this and the song below, not because I think Marius matters more than children, or his death is more tragic than theirs. But because I think his death asks big questions of us and most of all because I believe every life matters to God, every death matters. It is in the nature of love to care and I believe God is love and extends that love to all He has made.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70biABN3zNQ&feature=youtu.be
A Song for Marius
For 18 months they cared for me I made them smile and laugh Their number one attraction a beautiful giraffe
Then came the day when all that changed as I watched the rising sun instead of bringing water they brought a loaded gun
Remember me I'm Marius and this is my last song tell the world how I was killed and tell them it was wrong
I was surplus to requirements so they shot me in the head and still the crowds were watching as I lay before them dead
Then they cut me up in public, Cameras honed in on the knife They fed me to the lions Such a brutal end to life
Remember me I'm Marius and this is my last song tell the world how I was killed and tell them it was wrong
They didn't have to butcher me They could have let me go Offers of another home came in but they said No
Don't ever let them silence you Until every creature's free You couldn't save my life but you can save my friends for me.
Remember me I'm Marius and this is my last song tell the world how I was killed and tell them it was wrong
