Up Close with a Zebra

This week we took a mini-vacation to San Antonio. We met up with family, and Meghan had a conference. We ate on the River Walk, took the boat tour, saw the Alamo, went shopping, and of course had a Zebra in our car.

Ok, so maybe that last one’s not quite so obvious, let me explain. Just outside of San Antonio they have a drive through Safari park, where you stay in your car (because it’s way to hot this summer to be outside) and see the animals with no cages. They even give you some food pellets so you can feed the animals. We got to see African deer, giraffes, wildebeests, ostriches, llamas, but the most interesting was the Zebras. There were a bunch of them, and they had grown quite accustomed to their automobile-filled surroundings. They had learned that, despite the stern warning from the woman at the gate, some people would feed them right out of their hands. That is what one Zebra expected as he came close, and closer, and closer still until he stuck his big mouth into our car. I had to slowly roll up the window to get him out, making sure not to hurt him but to give him the message that he wasn’t welcome in our Toyota.

Sometimes people can be like that Zebra, they stick their noses right where they don’t belong. They have become so accustomed to people letting them get into their business that they don’t even know that what they are doing is wrong. I think this happens everywhere, but it’s especially noticeable in a small town. I mean, some people have really made it into an art, and they’ve been doing it so long that at this point they thrive on it. I think we need to treat those kinds of people the same way we would treat a Zebra, do our best not to hurt them but to let them know that they are not welcome in the middle of our lives. Often that is all people need, to be lovingly shown where the boundaries are. Most people will respect the boundaries, and they will respect you more for showing them where the boundaries are.