Trip to the Zoo

I have and will likely always be a passive man. Sonia, conversely, is a conniving schemer. She’s been planning and plotting all sorts of things for us to do without my consultation. Last weekend is a prime example: I was hoodwinked into watching Fiddler on the Roof. To anyone who knows the real me—said musical is within the realm of my top three least favorite musicals of all time. It’s not the music, content, or the length of such-and-such musical—it’s the fact that I’ve had to watch videos of it copious amounts of times during elementary and junior-high school general music class. I have become “burned out” to Fiddler on the Roof. Sonia has managed again to bamboozle me into going somewhere and doing something that I never intended to do. We are spending the day at the Minnesota Zoo. Don’t get me wrong: I like animals. I just don’t like going to see incarcerated, transplanted animals when I have better things to do. I suppose it won’t be all that bad. I simply cannot think of a zoo without thinking about my dear friend Michael. During the spring he taught an overview to the Old Testament course at North Central College in Minneapolis. As we worked our way through Wisdom Literature we approached one of our “texts of terror”: Job. Michael walked the students through the muck and mire of the text – all the way to the “Divine Speeches” at the end of the book. Throughout his lesson he referenced "collections" of foreign things vis-à-vis zoos and museums. These things are likely a result of the imperial powers that be flexing their royal ego. In the book of Job, however, YHWH is the one with the “collection”—Creation. Moreover, Michael referred to his lesson plan for that day as “a trip to the Divine Zoo.” I don’t think I’ll be able to go to a zoo again without thinking about him. I also can’t help but think of my father whenever I go to a zoo: he used to tease my mother whenever we would see those baboons with the red-butts and say, “Patty, look! It’s your mother!” I wonder what debauchery awaits us next.

I wish you a wonderful afternoon. Be productive. Have a great day.

-Dan