Complex Issues

"This is not a picture of Cecil. But who cares? The point is that Cecil's death has raised some very complex issues for us to face..."

Why can't life just be simple? Why is it that things which seem like the cleanest of issues, get messy once you dig under the surface? I have said for years, separating the "good guys" from the "bad guys" is hard. Why? We all have personalities developed by and steeped in dualism. In other words, there is good and bad in all of us. And yes, often times there is good and bad in our issues as well.

Two issues come to light from this week. Cecil the Lion and aborted baby parts. The lion first. Yes, it would be so easy to hate this dentist. And some do. Some have yelled "Bastard!" or worse. The story goes he "lured" this lion out of his sanctuary, shot it with an arrow, and only wounded it. He then tracked it for 40 hours until he found the gravely wounded lion. Cecil then met his demise at the end of a gun. And now the country of Zimbabwe is saying it was an illegal hunt as Cecil was "off limits". And they want the dentist back to face charges. That is one way to look at this issue. And now another way.

Zimbabwe is a poor country located in Africa. It is the country that Cecil lived in. This country sells hunting licences to trophy hunters all over the world. These licenses allow hunters to come to Zimbabwe, make their kill, and then take the trophy home. The process is as regulated as a third world country can regulate things. HOWEVER, (and this is an important point), to properly fund the sanctuaries in Zimbabwe, which are home to many prized animals being saved for future generations, Zimbabwe needs to offer a certain number of hunting licences. And these licenses come at outrageous prices.

I heard on the radio the United States at one time wanted to put lions on the endangered species list. If we had done that, it would have then been become illegal for a United States citizen to hunt lions anywhere in the world. The story on the radio when on to say the Zimbabwe government told us that putting this animal on the endangered species list would be bad for them. By preventing Americans from buying Zimbabwe hunting licences, the result could be the lion becoming endangered. Since the majority of license fees come from American hunters, the loss of this revenue would be catastrophic to maintaining the sanctuaries which protect the herds.

The second complex issue is so important, I will address it in full in a subsequent post. It has to do with the disclosure of the destruction and sale of infant body parts by Planned Parenthood. Now one would think after seeing high ranking medical professionals, who are employed by Planned Parenthood, describe in grisly detail the death and destruction of these most innocent humans, there would be universal outrage. There was not.  And a judge, obviously a Democrat appointee, issued an order to stop the disclosure describing this infanticide. How in the world can a judge or any elected official defend this? For some reason, this supposedly simple issue has become very complex. Like I said, more, much more, on this very important issue later. 

A former morning talk host, a person I deeply respect, would always counsel to read as many sources as possible. Why? Most issues are not cut and dried. They are complex. No easy answers. The issue I described in this post are only two of them.