“Sir, sir, which ones are we going to see first?” A young girl pushed past her classmates,
making sure that her voice was the one that rose above all the others.
The school teacher momentarily ignored the cacophony of questions as he proceeded to count heads to
himself, and then repeated the exercise again, as the hoard of school-children continued to swarm
around him, jockeying for key positions.
“Right class, gather round. Ok then, today as you all know, we have come to a zoo. I know that some
of you may have been to one of these places before, but still, that doesn’t make the day any safer. We
will all be staying together, in pairs, so can you all please find your partners, and hold hands.”
The young girl, whose question was still to be answered, grabbed hold of the teachers right hand, and
looked up to him with a smiling face. Another young girl, whose face suddenly wore a frown, and was
no doubt the former’s ‘partner’, walked forward, and reluctantly took the school-teachers remaining
hand. “Right follow me.” Prompted the teacher, and then the silence was broken once more by the
continuous babble of noise, which seems to follow groups of children wherever they go.
The teacher walked to a fork in the series of pathways, and, having read the signs, and double-checked
his position with his brochure, took the left route, occasionally checking behind, and around himself, for
any discrepancy in the number of ‘school-children heads.’
“Davies, where’s Taylor? Oh there you are boy, come on, quickly finish tying your shoelaces, and catch
up with the group.”
After walking on for a hundred yards or so, the teacher signalled for the group to come to a stop,
and then proceeded to count the children one more time.
”First of all class, as you are no doubt wondering, we are going to visit a species from the Southern
Continent; Australia, to be more precise. This species is not normally known to be dangerous, but
‘incidents’ do happen, so obey the rules, and no wandering off. And that means you too, Jeffries. We
don’t want another episode like the time we went ‘Jungle Trekking.’ I’m glad to see that you have fully
recovered, unlike that snake we had to rescue you from.”
A few of the children laughed nervously, remembering how one of their peers had so nearly become the
latest meal for the giant boa. “Now then children, behold!” He gestured to two frightened looking
creatures, huddled together inside the nearest enclosure.
“Now can anybody tell me what this species is called.”
“Cannibals.” Shouted the boy named Taylor.
“Nonsense man.” Returned the teacher. “Any creature would be crazy to consider eating the likes of
you.”
The group of children burst into another round of laughter; Taylor shoving his partner, Davies,
in the ribs for his troubles, and then received a more violent one back.
“Children, despite what you may have heard about today’s visit, we are actually here for
something called ‘Education.’ You may wish to sample it someday.” He said the word
‘Education’ slowly, and deliberately, as though the word might be new to some of the class.
“Well, does anyone else have any idea what we are looking at?”
There was silence amongst the group. None of the children apparently felt like being the next in
line to be ridiculed. “Nobody. Oh come on. There must be some signs of intelligence on this
planet. You, Jones, what do you think.” It was time to hone in on one of the quiet kids in the
group; he knew when to stop pushing his luck, these kids would only take so much before they
gave it back again. Bloody animals. “Well come on young lady, we haven’t got all day.”
Finally Jones piped up. “Sir, I am having a hard time understanding why we keep these ‘things’ in
cages. Isn't it cruel?”
“Oh, here come the Liberals.” Scoffed the teacher. “I suppose you would like to see these
‘things’ wandering the streets, wouldn't you.” He stepped towards the young girl, and gestured
towards the cage. The girl took a nervous step back in return.
“What no? You don’t want to share what you have with these poor blighters. Not so worried
about their well being now are you?”
The girl finally found her voice. “No sir. I was wondering what is the purpose of keeping them
alive. They do not look happy. I just think that they would be better off dead.”
“As usual you lot have missed the point. We keep these ‘things alive, so the likes of you can see
what they look like. If we did not have zoos like this one, well, these pathetic creatures would be
lost to us forever.”
“But what purpose does it serve sir?”
“Well hello! Education. Ground control to Major Tom. There was once thousands of these,
‘things’, but in the name of progress, well, these creatures were almost wiped out. If is wasn't for
the likes of this zoo, well, we would have lost these ‘things’, as you call them, forever.”
“So sir, is it true that mankind arrived where these poor things lived, but they were in the
way, so they were driven out.”
“In the name of progress of course. Listen group; and that includes you too Taylor. Put him
down. You don’t know where he’s been. Sometimes things happen which are not particularly
nice, but it all works out nicely for everyone in the end. You know they have a lovely enclosure
and three fresh meals a day. Hmm, yum yum. What could be better?”
“So sir. Are there any more kinds of creatures around the zoo? From different parts of the world,
I mean.”
“Yes, of course there are. We are not barbarians you know. We wouldn’t want any species to
die out if we could help it. We have been very resourceful in keeping alive every known specimen
we have ever known. Today you will see the likes of these two here, from places like North,
South, and Central America. Asia, Europe and last but not least Africa. I think that you will
particularly be surprised with these creatures. You see children, at one time, long ago, not
everyone looked the same as we do. At one time, people came in all kinds of shapes and sizes.
However, over a matter of time, people travelled around the globe, got to know each other; if you
know what I mean, and then the diversity that we once had, became lesser and lesser.
You see, the stronger parts of who we were, dominated the other ‘weaker parts, so that we now
have a ‘one size fits all,’ and you lot, God help us, are the end product.
We are the result of all humans bonding together in the huge melting pot that is evolution.
We are made up of all the best parts of mankind.
Eventually humans like these Aborigines you see almost became extinct, but we kept them
alive so that even dumber animals like yourselves would get a chance to see what they used to
look like. But anyway class, let us get a move on. You can take your hoods down now; it looks
like it is going to stop raining at last.”
So the children followed the lead of their school teacher, and took their rain-hoods off their
heads. The sun for the first time that day finally showed it’s face, and shone a golden colour on
to the world below. A golden colour which was also to be seen on the head of each and every
child and adult. Yes, Golden was a much more preferable term than Ginger.