Justice in the Jungle

One of the most interesting stories I’ve heard in a long time is the story that came out of Addis Ababa, in Ethiopia.

Africa is a desperate place filled with suffering and death. Part of the suffering belongs to young girls who are forced into marriages or stolen from tribes and forced to become wives in other tribes. It's an old custom that won't die out.

Little girls can’t physically handle all the marriage rights, so to speak, and are often brutalized by eager husbands and end up sterile, infected or dead. I’m sure you’ve heard the stories.

In Ethiopia, such a brutalization was in progress - a group of seven men beat a young twelve year old for seven days for her reluctance to “marry” one of them. She had been abducted. She managed to make her escape and fled into the jungle where she came across three black maned lions that protected her from the men until the authorities came.

Some of the “experts” said it was her whimpering that made the lions think she was a young lion and therefore defend her against the men. Some said the lions weren’t hungry. Some said it was a miracle the lions didn’t eat her.

When the whole world seems upside down, the natural state seems to take over and issue a justice that we don't understand but are very grateful for. I think about young girls like her and how terrible their lives are and it makes me glad I'm an American.