my yang yang

a couple weeks ago, a man was attacked by a panda bear at a zoo in china, and it seems people were less than sympathetic, readily blaming the victim:

The 20-year-old student had ignored warning signs and scaled a two-metre (6.5ft) barrier to get into the pen, hoping to cuddle the creature, who bit chunks of flesh out of the man's arms and legs. Speaking softly ('It hurts to talk,' he said) from his hospital bed, the injured man said the panda had looked so cute, he had just wanted to hug it. 'Yang Yang was so cute, I just wanted to cuddle him,' he whispered. 'I didn't expect he would attack.... I have many bites.' Yang Yang did not seem to suffer from the incident and was not penalized. In fact, the food-guy fed him extra helpings of leaves and stems. 'No need to blame the bear,' he said.*
*edited by ms. c.

i know what you're thinking--what kind of jackass breaks into a bear pen...to cuddle?--but not i. we learn as early as infants to love bears, starting with teddys. and those of us young at heart never lose that reflex. i for example am one of these youthful sort. i even have a yang yang story of my own.

i too was attracted to the panda's reputation as gentle, and its stylized black-and-white/yin-yang look and woeful-looking eyes. and, when i spotted my yang yang from afar, i too 'just wanted to hug it.' but as i drew nearer, i discovered that my yang yang was no panda bear--in fact, it was no bear at all. it was a man--MAN (or a thing very closely resembling one)--and not even one black and white, but a very pale, anemic-looking, fleshy color. i only thank god i had the realization pre-cuddle.