Submitted by Mary, Jan 16, 2007 19:27

The bond between Shirley, the asian elephant lovingly housed at the Louisiana Purchase Zoo, and Solomon James, her caretaker for 22 years, was really something amazing to behold. His obvious love for her just streamed from the screen so brightly, and I found myself in tears just watching him play with her and care for her at the zoo (forget about when, upon arriving at the beautiful and well-run Elephant Sanctuary, Solomon leaned against Shirley and said through tears in his shy manner "Well.... you won't have to wear those chains no more"; I was done for, sobbing and rocking like an autistic child. You felt in that instant the sorrow that comes from your love for someone being so so big, and knowing that you're love isn't enough, that they need things you can't give them Then you felt his joy in knowing he was giving her those things, even though it meant he could no longer be her caretaker). Solomon James has a light that comes through in every word he speaks and in each of his actions. I was so shocked to find myself so emotionally rocked by this footage, but I realized at some point that it was because I was seeing, maybe for the first time in a long time, a truly good person.

Shirley touched me just as much as Solomon and his bond with her did. What an amazing character of resilience, and beauty. This individual has been through so much, so much that should have made her hate people, or withdraw into herself, but Shirley does the opposite. Not only does she find connection with Solomon (perhaps the first human in her life to deserve her love), but, after being attacked by another elephant 25 years ago, badly breaking her hind leg and causing other injuries, then not seeing another elephant for 22 years while at the Louisiana Purchase Zoo (the zoo was too small to have more than one elephant), Shirley came to the sanctuary and almost immediately bloomed into a mother figure and constant companion of Jenny, an asian elephant with whom she worked in the same circus one winter over 24 years ago when Jenny was still a calf. The two elephants obviously remembered eachother and, the first evening that Shirley called the sanctuary home, they were frantic to be together, even bending the steel bars that separated their enclosures in their efforts to get closer to eachother. When they were taken out the next morning, they began spending all of their time together, and Shirley immediately settled into a mother role to Jenny. They move in unison, grazing in the fields or dipping in the pond, Shirley sometimes straddling Jenny protectively when Jenny lies down (a maternal act), shielding her from the sun. Shirley amazes me with her simple ability to overcome and to love, but this is not surprising. I see animals do this on a daily basis, in my home and community, and on wonderful shows like Animal Planet's "Animal Precinct"/"Animal Cops", etc. where the animals that are rescued from these unimaginably horrible, abusive situations, are taken into homes where they are loved and nourished, and they... they thrive.

What is surprising is that it is very hard to find that same goodness and brightness and light in a person, which I believe is why it overwhelmed we to see it so openly in Solomon James. He is an inspiring, beautiful person, and I wish for him the best life....

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