This may seem crazy, but I was really pleased to hear that animal crackers have been set free. Animal crackers have been around a long time -- more than a century -- and for all that time the critters on the box have been caged. This makes sense given that they were connected to the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus.
The pressure has been on, though, from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) for a change in the design to visually set the animals free. PETA has opposed using animals in circuses for decades. Last year, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus announced they were shutting down after nearly 150 years following pressure from animal rights groups and declining ticket sales.
Some may feel that this is a goofy victory, at best, but it is a subtle statement that the creatures of the Earth are not just here for our use, or misuse. For too long this has been a destructive assumption, often supported by Christian theology and practice. Scripture has been cherry-picked to give us dominion as domination rather than stewardship and respectful coexistence. We are shifting our outlook, slowly but surely (Shirley?) and as PETA suggests, good things do come in small packages.
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