Lately as a part of my work with ChaCha I‘ve posted (a long with some others) news stories on ChaCha’s Facebook/Twitter pages about celebrities who have passed on or when something interesting happens to them. This has made me realize, while only 27 (28 on the 19th), I am old. After posting these we always receive a good number of people, yes they are mostly younger, but some are 18+ and they have NO idea who these celebrities are.
My brother (right) and me (left)
For instance today Corey Haim died and on the posting on Facebook a few people say “Who is he?” or just “Who?” This is what makes me feel old. I mean who hasn’t seen The Lost Boys or maybe The Two Coreys (ok I didn’t watch this either)?
Anyway, that is my gripe for the day. On top of me having a 9-year-old son who makes it seem like time flies by, I now have this younger crowd throwing it in my face that I am indeed old. Oh well. At least I’m not turning 30 this year like my brother.
My brother (right) and me (left) at Halloween of '86
Dawn Brancheau and Whale - AP
Sad story today (or yesterday now) of a trainer at an Orlando SeaWorld being killed by Tilikum, a 30 year old 12,300 lb killer whale, in front of an audience. While I think this is tremendously sad and by no means think she deserved it, it makes me wonder why we keep such animals for our amusement. This whale was probably doing what he would instinctively do in the wild. Whether she fell in or he grabbed her, he probably saw her as a toy and didn’t mean to kill her. Or maybe he did, I don’t know. But now this whale could possibly put down after it was forced into this life of smaller “aquariums” and a entertaining us as humans.
I have mixed emotions overall. When something like this happens I think how it wouldn’t if we didn’t treat animals (large animals especially) like this, but when I am at the zoo I do go and watch the dolphin shows (or I suppose being at the Zoo period supports it). Either way I do think this is horrible and I feel tremendously sorry for Dawn Brancheau’s family for what happened to her today.
