Here is how we use this issue to educate our children.

I have seen elephants up close and personal a number of times. Back in the day when we were uneducated, it was exciting and fun. Then a number of years ago a circus came to Durham. I was still uneducated, and I was so excited that elephants were going to be across the street. I couldn’t wait to ride on the elephant; and, as I am an outdoor painter, to draw and paint them. I also told all my students to go see and paint the elephants.  I had not read any “cultist information,” but I am an animal lover. I knew nothing about elephants and thought, as you do, what a cool education this is to meet an elephant up close and get to paint and draw it while it stays across the street for a number of days or weeks.  I was ignorant, and it took a while before a light bulb went off in my head as I stood for a number of hours painting and watching the elephants sway back and forth at the ends of their short chains. The joy left my heart and was replaced by the pain that I felt from those elephants. 

I suspect you have never stood with an elephant quietly for hours, long enough to feel its pain. If you did you might realize that what you are saying and doing is the real cultist activity, not those of us who have witnessed just the tip of the iceberg of pain that these intelligent creatures face. A lifetime of misery for a moment of entertainment

If you call that education well, I guess it is in a way. I hope the mothers and fathers who bring their young children to this Durham Fair embarrassment will take a moment to think and reflect about what exactly they are seeing and supporting by their presence. Google the PBS special “An Apology To Elephants” available on YouTube and see why you might like to take a stand with those of us who have witnessed the abuse.  Turning a blind eye becomes a habit and not a habit that nurtures a good and kind human being. 

The real education here should be for the children not to come to the Durham Fair but to go to one of the many other fairs in Connecticut instead, or to the Big E, and for all you parents to explain why.  Show them the PBS special if they are old enough to watch; it is strong stuff. Make it clear that exploitation of animals for entertainment is very cruel, very wrong; and that you are going to a fair that does not exploit these noble elephants.  Explain that because money is a powerful influence for change, you are using your money to protest this exploitation by taking it to another fair. If enough of you parents do this, you can show your children that a bunch of individuals banding together for a common good can make a difference for good. That is powerful education that will last longer than a corn dog.

 PS:  12 people did not turn a blind eye.