My Lad Wants to Change the World

A Productive Weekend

I had a great weekend. My son spent the weekend with my sister and nephew. They had a blast!

Chloe and I spent Friday indulging in takeaway pizza, popcorn, a movie marathon and plenty of cuddles! On Saturday she went out with her friends and I did some work and also produced a machinima (beneath this post).

Yesterday was the busy day for my and my boy. He came home from my sister's full of energy, declaring that he simply had to show me all the photos he had taken at the zoo. They were indeed great photos. But then we came to one of a gorilla in a fairly small enclosure. He looked unhappy to say the least.

"See this, Dad?"

"Yes...."

"Look... it's too small for him. He's miserable. He wants to be in the desert."

"Gorillas don't generally live in the desert, son," I attempted to correct him.

"Ok, well the jungle or the trees somewhere. He would rather even be in the desert than in there though, wouldn't he?"

"It sure looks like it."

"Well," my son declared adamently, "I want to rescue him."

"Erm... ok."

"We can buy him and just rescue him can't we?"

"It doesn't really work like that. For a start, yuo can't buy zoo animals and we can't just release him here in the UK, can we?"

He was pensive for a moment before continuing,

"Ok. So what do we do?"

"Well, honestly, you can't just release him. You can't do that. He might have been raised in captivity and so might not even survive in the wild."

"Well he needs a bigger and better place to live."

"I agree," I told him.

"How do we get him one?"

I thought about it for a moment.

"I tell you what," I said, "Why don't we write to the zoo. Tell them you're concerned about the conditions the animals are being kept in and make suggestions for things you think might improve it for them."

"Good idea, Dad. And then we could tell the Prime Minister as well. We can send him a letter too can't we."

"Absolutely."

So I spent yesterday helping my boy to write letters to the zoo in question and to the Prime Minister about the conditions in which zoo animals are kept.

Of course, his letters are unlikely to change the world.... but even if they raise an eyebrow I'll be content that he's done his bit for a cause he clearly believes in.

My lad wants to change the world ;-)