The Buck Stops…Somewhere

The two big news stories of the week this week were the death of Cecil the lion and the release of the videos showing Planned Parenthood selling aborted baby body parts. It is a sad commentary on our society that Cecil got more coverage on the mainstream networks and more outrage than the selling of aborted baby body parts.

Cecil was majestic. He was obviously everything a lion should be. The man who killed him is in hiding, fearing for his life. The dentist who killed Cecil claim that his guides misled him and that he thought he was just killing an ordinary lion. I am the first person to admit that I don’t understand hunting (other than with a camera), but I am not ready to condemn those who hunt. When I devour my cheeseburger, I really don’t want to think about its prior life. But that does take away my moral high ground to condemn hunting and hunters. Americans are very upset that Cecil was killed. Meanwhile, the videos of Planned Parenthood show that the organization is marketing aborted baby body parts. Where is the outrage? I don’t know. I don’t support the idea of killing abortion doctors or bombing abortion clinics, but why aren’t the people who are dismembering babies and selling the parts in hiding? Where are the people who protest using animals to test cosmetics?

I am reminded of the death of Princess Diana. People saw her as the embodiment of the fairy tale princess. She was a beautiful and seemingly gracious lady. When she died, the world mourned. Her funeral was the epitome of pomp and circumstance. Shortly after the death of Princess Diana, Mother Theresa died. Her funeral was simple (and beautiful—as was her life). The mourning for Mother Theresa was much more subdued—not like the show of grief for the loss of a princess. I think our values have been upside down for a while.

To conclude. Cecil is dead and Planned Parenthood is selling aborted baby body parts. People are outraged about Cecil and not really interested in the Planned Parenthood videos. Congress can’t even scrape together the votes to stop federal funding of Planned Parenthood. Eventually the buck stops…somewhere.