Circus World Essay, Research Paper

Finally, after what seemed like a year in the car, we were there. I was ready to get out and see this Circus Museum that my mom had always talked about. We spent another day making the great trek from our car to the entrance. I looked up at the old man selling tickets, but it was not an old man, it was a clown! This place may have some promise after all. The gate opened and I walked through. I could smell the musk of the animals, the sweetness of the cotton candy, and the salty aroma of the popcorn all in one whiff of the air. We walked around for a while on the gritty orange sand. This is just like the stuff they have on the ground of a real circus!

“Mom, I wanna see the elephants!”

“Soon enough, Joshua.”

After the longest “soon enough” of my life, we went to the elephant show. It was so great! There was a tall gateway into an unlit corridor. Suddenly, a man in a bright red suit with big long tails came running out. Behind him was what seemed like thousands of lumbering gray beasts. There was something beautiful and graceful about the way their giant snouts swayed to-and-frow. The trainer got them to do anything that he wanted just by saying it. The elephants even stood up on their hind legs and jumped in the air. I loved the way they looked, so natural and happy.

The rest of the day is just a blur from me; erased by the passing of time. All that I remember was right when I excitedly bounced into the car, I turned to my mom and simply stated, “Elephants are my favorite animal, Mommy!”

Thirteen years of my life shot by. I learned so much more about elephants causing me to fall even further in love with them. I also learned many things about them, which are not so great. I learned that their numbers in the wild were dwindling down to a near nonexistence. Also, I saw the atrocities they were put through to get them to do those “great tricks.”

I had gone to a percussion camp for two weeks in Ohio, so when my parents picked me up, we (more they) decided we would stop at the Circus World Museum on the way home. Everything was as I remembered it, except not nearly as exciting. We walked around and looked at everything. It all seemed sort of old and run down with this strange musty smell everywhere. I was very bored.

Then we got to the elephants. This could be fun. I could not believe what I was seeing. I don’t remember those chains. At the first look at their bindings I my heart immediately sank and I got dizzy. The elephants could only move about two feet in any direction. I turned and noticed the five-year-old child watching and poking the poor defenseless elephants. That just made me sicker because I could remember doing the same thing just thirteen short years ago.

“ I can’t stand to see this Mom. Let’s go.” She did not even look at me. We continued to watch the elephant show. I could not look away from that poor elephant being poked by the little me.

“That’s it folks! Does anyone have any questions?” Suddenly my controversial mind went into overdrive. “Yes, sir, what is your question?” I looked around and realized she was talking to me.

“I was just wondering how you feel about the issue of cruelty in the training of performing animals. Also, how would you like being shocked by a cattle prod?” I felt a huge tug on my arm and I was suddenly in the car heading home.

“Elephants are still my favorite animal.”

It is so amazing how much better the world looked when I was five. I did not see the pain the poor animal was going through. Even though I feel terrible when I think of the treatment of the elephants, I am glad I know about it because I am now an active advocate of animal rights and will not rest until circus animal training is ended.