A TOUCHING STORY

In 1986, Mkele Mbembe was on holiday in Kenya after graduating from
Northwestern University. On a hike through the bush, he came across a
young bull elephant standing with one leg raised in the air.

The elephant seemed distressed, so Mbembe approached it very
carefully. He got down on one knee and inspected the elephant's foot,
and found a large piece of wood deeply embedded in it. As carefully and
as gently as he could, Mbembe worked the wood out with his hunting
knife, after which the elephant gingerly put down its foot. The
elephant turned to face the man, and with a rather curious look on its
face, stared at him for several tense moments. Mbembe stood frozen,
thinking of nothing else but being trampled. Eventually the elephant
trumpeted loudly, turned, and walked away. Mbembe never forgot that
elephant or the events of that day.

Twenty years later, Mbembe was walking through the Chicago Zoo with his
teenaged son. As they approached the elephant enclosure, one
of the creatures turned and walked over to near where Mbembe
and his son Tapu were standing. The large bull elephant stared
at Mbembe, lifted its front foot off the ground, then put it down. The
elephant did that several times then trumpeted loudly, all the while
staring at the man.

Remembering the encounter in 1986, Mbembe couldn't help
wondering if this was the same elephant. Mbembe summoned up his courage,
climbed over the railing and made his way into the enclosure. He walked
right up to the elephant and stared back in wonder.

The elephant trumpeted again, wrapped its trunk around one of
Mbembe's legs and slammed him against the railing, killing him
instantly.

Probably wasn't the same elephant.......