What's a polar bear?

 

“Look up there, look up there!” the child’s mom coaxes her. Unbeknownst to the woman, there was not a single coherent thought in the little girl's mind; her young brain was still inchoate and jumbled. The young girl was having quite the excursion that day. Early in the A.M she was dragged away whilst playing with her favorite toys. After taking a nap in something called “the car'', she awoke in a place referred to as “the zoo” (zee-oh-oh is how it was spelled out to her).  The zoo was a menagerie of peculiar creatures that the girl had never laid eyes on before; her juvenile mind was unable to comprehend the whimsical beasts. In addition to their strange appearances, the names given to the creatures were equally bizarre. Who would name an animal aardvark, hippopotamus, iguana, zebra, or chimpanzee? She felt like she was in a fairytale or a Disney movie since zany critters like the ones at “the zoo” only existed on her television screen or on the pages of a storybook. After eons of being manhandled from one exhibition to the next, her mom was enthusiastic to announce they'll be seeing the polar bear next. What is a polar bear? More importantly, how do you explain to a child what a polar bear is? Something must have been lost in translation because the little girl could not understand why her mom was so excited to see a blob of white. It looked like snow or mashed potatoes, not a living, breathing animal. Her perplexed face must have been noticed by her mom because soon they were making their way to the child’s favorite place: the gift shop. Despite her initial confusion when she was exposed to the strange array of creatures at the zoo , the girl’s nascent mind grew a little bit wiser that day.