I went to the zoo last Saturday.

The goal was not merely because I wanted to catch up on my non-existent childhood or to count how many exotic animals this particular zoo has imported from God knows where.

All I wanted to attain was to see for myself what I’ve missed.

Very near to the entrance was a solitary elephant, with big flappy ears and a fat behind. I didn’t check if it was a he or a she.

To see it alive and walking and chomping on grass in real time just a few feet away from me got me thinking how important it is to experience things first hand. It is never enough to be wowed by coffeetable book versions or life-sized blowups of flowers or trees or animals. You have to hold them and feel the texture of their petals or barks or behinds. You have to share the same space they occupy and to see that there is a certain uniqueness in every living being that can only be fully appreciated when you see them with your own (myopic or not) eyes.

The zoo trip reminds me of a poem I used to recite when I was a kid.

All things bright and wonderful
All creatures great and small
All things wise and wonderful
The Lord God made them all.

I used to wave my arms as broadly as I could to encompass everything with the “All things” part of the poem. Today, I come to understand what this poem means.

Next time, I will know which to choose when I’m torn between curling up with a good book in my room and being offered the chance to get to walk around a different corner of the universe. Next time, the book can always, always wait.