May was the last showing of the Barnum and Bailey Circus. It came to an end. Another end of a great institution of entertainment. And it was always one I wanted to go to was the circus.

I’m a big fan of Cirque du Soleil, and the UniverSoul Circus, but I had never gone to the big one: The Barnum and Bailey Circus.

So when it came through Philadelphia for the final time, I started to ask people, “Hey, I’m going to the circus, want to come with me?” And I was going to go all out. I was going to get myself one of those sky boxes and do it up right.

But I was surprised at the people who were totally against the circus, talking about how cruelly the animals are treated.  Personally, anybody that can make any cat of any size do what he asks is impressive to me.

So I started thinking more about how the animals are treated. One person told me they should let the animals go. Like the tiger’s going to get an Uber to the Philadelphia airport and go back to Africa. Let’s think about it: if a tiger or a lion was in Africa on a reservation, you have so many poachers killing animals on that reservation that he might be better off in a zoo or even in the circus.

I think we should protect all of the animals. If we keep using up all of their natural habitats to build Starbucks, I think we have to find other places for them to live such as beautiful, modern zoos or circuses that have their welfare in mind.

There are many animals I do not want to see in the wild. Like if I were walking through a park, I wouldn’t want to run across a bear, or lay down and have a cobra slide up next to me. I’d rather see an animal walking around in a zoo or a circus than stuffed in a museum.

For those of you who know me, I always look at both sides of every situation. We try to make animals as comfortable as possible but still step over the homeless guy sleeping on the grate. And if we really cared about what animals think, do you really think that poodle would get that haircut for himself?

Thinking back on some of my Sunday School classes, I think that God said we were in charge of all the animals and living things. I know it’s very hard for an animal to go extinct if man is trying to help him reproduce, such as in zoos. And if it’s possible to put them back in the wild, that would be great, if they have a wilderness to go to.

I ended up going to the circus by myself. I couldn’t even find one of my friend’s kids to go with me because I was only able to go during the week. But it was another thing off of my Bucket List.

So, in closing, pet your cat or dog, and smile at those animals that walk upright.

- Kevin S. Nash

Photo Details: The Hearing Loss Association of America’s Walk4Hearing 2016