I was on a safari trip in a game park near Kuraman (Republic of South Africa) when the park ranger spotted a rhinoceros and it’s baby and pointed towards the beasts. Everybody seemed quite excited. The park ranger interjected by stating that it is a “white rhinoceros”. “So you’re saying that there is a black rhinoceros”, asked one of the visitors. “Yes, and you can tell the difference easily”, responded the park ranger. Some of the visitors nodded and shrugged their shoulders as if to indicate, “ oh ya, won’t go there”.

Few kilometers down the road, one of the visitors got even more excited when he pointed towards a dense bush nearby. “It’s a white rhinoceros”, he shouted excitedly. “That’s a black rhinoceros”, said the ranger. The ranger then said that whoever spots the difference would get a spot prize. Everybody tried there luck but to no avail.

After everyone had had a go, the park ranger then said; “the difference is, if you were to look at a white rhinoceros, the baby is always walking in front of the mother, just like an European mother pushing a pram. With a black rhinoceros, the baby is always behind the mother. Just like a black mother carrying a baby on her back”. Everybody waited in anticipation for someone to break the ice and since no one responded, I could not help but burst out laughing. This got everyone else on their laps, laughing hysterically. What a hilarious analogy. So obvious yet so far from it – sensitivity to race and color had deviate our thinking from some of the simplest scenes around us. Looking back over the two scenarios of the white and black rhinoceros, I could not help but nod in approval after a quite reflection.

I had a feeling that this fact was overlooked as it could create more controversy than for the “common good”.