The Wichita Eagle ran a story about Texas A&M senior Makenzie Alexis Noland.* No big deal, one might think; just another college senior. The accompanying picture tells another story; it shows Makenzie in the water next to a 13-foot alligator named Big Tex. I’m not sure what Makenzie learned in college, but her graduation picture with the alligator makes me think—very little.
Oh! Sure. She had an internship and worked with the alligator, getting to know him. “It’s something I’m super proud of.”* “It took him a few weeks for him to like me.” Am I missing something I should have learned in college? I thought I learned that wild animals can be unpredictable, just as Siegfried and Roy’s white tiger Montecore unpredictably attacked Roy on stage in Las Vegas.
At the same time that I read the story of Makenzie, I was aware of another college-age girl, Mollie Tibbetts and a different story. Mollie is missing at the time of this writing. Her parents, relatives, and friends are distraught. It could be a tragedy in the making.
So, Makenzie. There you are, in good health, smiling, wearing your mortar board and putting a finger on the nose of a 1,000-pound beast. Cute scene, right? Something different for a graduation picture. Viral image.
See the contrast. One girl possibly in danger from a kidnapper or maybe from a disorienting fall—no one knows at the time of this writing—and another girl putting herself in jeopardy regardless of what she believes she knows about a giant beast.
Fact: Earth does have beasts, intentional ones and unintentional ones. Both are, at certain times and certain places more likely to strike. Think the Crocodile Hunter. Dead because of a close encounter of his own making with a stingray. And Makenzie? Okay, she’s gotten away with it, but if we know anything about brains, we know that deep inside all of us is that “reptilian” brain, and that same part of the brain is practically all a crocodile has. It is a beast by nature. Makenzie the new college graduate? Isn’t she supposed to be equipped not only with a more complex brain and because of her education a more complex understanding of animal and human behavior?
Know any Makenzies? Think you can convince them that unnecessary risk can end very badly? Probably not. We all take risks. I take them; you do. We pass through the yellow light. We exceed a safe speed at times—if only, officer, ever so briefly. Texting while driving? Taking a selfie near a cliff or a wild animal (Hey! Did you see the video of the guy that taunted a bison in a national park? Have you seen the many other videos of bad encounters between people and wild animals?) Running with the bulls? Traveling by air? By sea in hurricane season? Going into a cavern with your soccer team just when rains can flood the cavern? (Yeah! But those boys in Thailand got out safely. True, but one of the rescuers died) Chance imposes some risks. We apparently choose others. And true, we survive many of those risks. But touching and kissing a crocodile?
Big Tex has been around humans for a long time. He seems gentle, but he still needs to eat, and regardless of the schedule the zoo keeps, no one knows when that reptilian brain might send the animal lunging forward or sideways, mouth agape, big teeth grabbing onto the nearest “food.”
Mollie and Makenzie. One not seeking risk; one seeking it. Ironically, the latter is safe and sound in the arms of her friends and family.
*Alanis, Kaitlyn. Senior takes graduation photos with one of her ‘best friends’—a giant Texas gator. The Wichita Eagle. August 6, 2018.
Oh! Sure. She had an internship and worked with the alligator, getting to know him. “It’s something I’m super proud of.”* “It took him a few weeks for him to like me.” Am I missing something I should have learned in college? I thought I learned that wild animals can be unpredictable, just as Siegfried and Roy’s white tiger Montecore unpredictably attacked Roy on stage in Las Vegas.
At the same time that I read the story of Makenzie, I was aware of another college-age girl, Mollie Tibbetts and a different story. Mollie is missing at the time of this writing. Her parents, relatives, and friends are distraught. It could be a tragedy in the making.
So, Makenzie. There you are, in good health, smiling, wearing your mortar board and putting a finger on the nose of a 1,000-pound beast. Cute scene, right? Something different for a graduation picture. Viral image.
See the contrast. One girl possibly in danger from a kidnapper or maybe from a disorienting fall—no one knows at the time of this writing—and another girl putting herself in jeopardy regardless of what she believes she knows about a giant beast.
Fact: Earth does have beasts, intentional ones and unintentional ones. Both are, at certain times and certain places more likely to strike. Think the Crocodile Hunter. Dead because of a close encounter of his own making with a stingray. And Makenzie? Okay, she’s gotten away with it, but if we know anything about brains, we know that deep inside all of us is that “reptilian” brain, and that same part of the brain is practically all a crocodile has. It is a beast by nature. Makenzie the new college graduate? Isn’t she supposed to be equipped not only with a more complex brain and because of her education a more complex understanding of animal and human behavior?
Know any Makenzies? Think you can convince them that unnecessary risk can end very badly? Probably not. We all take risks. I take them; you do. We pass through the yellow light. We exceed a safe speed at times—if only, officer, ever so briefly. Texting while driving? Taking a selfie near a cliff or a wild animal (Hey! Did you see the video of the guy that taunted a bison in a national park? Have you seen the many other videos of bad encounters between people and wild animals?) Running with the bulls? Traveling by air? By sea in hurricane season? Going into a cavern with your soccer team just when rains can flood the cavern? (Yeah! But those boys in Thailand got out safely. True, but one of the rescuers died) Chance imposes some risks. We apparently choose others. And true, we survive many of those risks. But touching and kissing a crocodile?
Big Tex has been around humans for a long time. He seems gentle, but he still needs to eat, and regardless of the schedule the zoo keeps, no one knows when that reptilian brain might send the animal lunging forward or sideways, mouth agape, big teeth grabbing onto the nearest “food.”
Mollie and Makenzie. One not seeking risk; one seeking it. Ironically, the latter is safe and sound in the arms of her friends and family.
*Alanis, Kaitlyn. Senior takes graduation photos with one of her ‘best friends’—a giant Texas gator. The Wichita Eagle. August 6, 2018.
RSS Feed