As I mentioned yesterday, I tend to hang on to information. My wife and my sister like to remind me that most of the information that manages to get logged away is of a "useless," or at least trivial nature. The place where this rears its ugly head most often is the zoo.
I am a zoo nerd. I have always loved animals, and if I wasn't in ministry I'd probably be a zoo keeper. So, I have a difficult time when the people around me at the zoo have no idea what they are looking at. At the Cameron Park Zoo in Waco, this happens every time we get to the South American enclosure. The picture above doesn't do this animal justice. It is about the size of a calf - a very fat calf. About three and half feet high, and two and half feet wide, it is the world's largest rodent. You can't miss it, and when small children see it, they instinctively ask mom/dad/grandma, "What is that?" I appreciate the people who are honest and say, "I don't know!" It infuriates me for some reason when people begin to guess - usually that it is some kind of wild pig. And from deep within me rises the incredible urge to turn to complete strangers and say, "Actually, it's a capybara - the world's largest rodent. It is an excellent swimmer, and in Venezuela people sometimes hunt them on horseback."
I would like to tell you that this urge stems from my deep-seated desire to be helpful and from my belief that education lifts the soul of the learner. But really, it comes from arrogance and the visceral thrill of "I know something you don't know, la la la la la!"
You see, the capybara at the Waco zoo likes to hang out in the shady spot in the right corner of the enclosure. The sign explaining "what manner of creature he be" is over on the left hand side. So, after a brief moment of perplexity, most people walk over there, look at the sign, and exclaim, "Says here it's a Capi -bear - uh!" (It's actually "bar-uh", but whatever.) If I can keep my mouth shut a little while longer, mom/dad/grandma has the pleasure of discovering the answer for themselves - or making their child read the sign and passing the pleasure of discovery on to them. And that makes for a much better day at the zoo for everyone.
But man, the time we were at the Ft. Worth Zoo, and the wallabies and the kangaroos were in the same enclosure and three people in a row pointed out the wallaby to their kids and said, "Look at the baby kangaroo!" - That just about drove me insane.
