Social shaming is easy. Compassion and mourning are not.

The points that @cindiincincy makes are well-made. The Cincinnati Zoo tragedy involving Harambe the gorilla and a young child could have happened to any parent.

I give Cindi Andrews, the author of this op-ed in the Cincinnati Enquirer, kudos for sharing her own near-miss story.

Social media shaming is so easy and so awful. Over the weekend, I talked with my family about the meme I saw saying the gorilla was doing a better job of watching the kid than the parent. That wasn’t helpful of me and made me as bad as any of the other pitchfork and flaming torch carriers that have been all over Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr.

The Internet gives us anonymity. It’s easy to post a snappy comment or share a meme. Perhaps first we should consider how we would feel if we were on the other side of an opinion. What if YOU were the parent of the child? Let’s show compassion for the parent and child, and mourn the loss of this magnificent animal.

Follow the link below to view the article on the Cincinnati Enquirer.

cincinnatienquirer.oh.newsmemory.com/publink.php?shareid=0d4a9cbb3