Cynicism vs. Idealism: Zoo Lights

John 12:36 - "While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light ..."

My pops, my older younger sister, my brother-in-law, and myself journeyed to Portland and the Oregon Zoo to see the beautiful Christmas lights abounding along the path.

The weather was cold and rainy. We were damp before we'd even walked a hundred yards from the car, but we were excited. Not only were we going to see a very unique display of Christmas lights, we were also going to be able to see animals! Animals! At night!

It soon became apparent that we weren't going to be seeing many animals. We saw some seals, some bats, and some penguins. The rest were all in hiding from the weather, or kept in a facility protecting them from the winter. No, the zoo had drawn us in just to see the lights. Nothing more, nothing less.

Given my nature, I wondered if the zoo was taking advantage of us. It made sense for the zoo to seek ways to draw in tourists. After all, what zoo-goer wants to walk around in winter? By setting up a bunch of pretty lights, the zookeepers hoped to make us forget we weren't seeing animals, and therefore deprive us of our hard-earned cash! The scoundrels!

So it was easy for me to forget the lights and imagine conniving businessmen lurking behind every corner. However, the further I went along, the less discontent I became. After all, the lights were beautiful. There were some displays that had obviously required much love to put up. The zookeepers may have gotten our money, but they were likely using it to feed the warm and cozy animals as they waited for Spring to return.

And honestly? I enjoyed it. This picture walk will never be able to capture the raw beauty of the lights. I tried to get a few shots of the wire animals, like the raccoon you see at the top of the post, but any pictures I took paled compared to what I saw in person. If you ever visit Oregon in the winter, come visit its zoo. You'll be amazed.

And most importantly, we four had fun. We laughed, we talked, we even danced a little. It was a perfect, idyllic night, and even if we didn't see animals, we had each other.

That was enough.