I count myself very lucky to have been here for Li Bingbings visit. Hers and the visit by Xinhua have resulted in my own realizations. It is so easy to read an article about poaching and feel learned in the situation at hand, or to hear the name of a country and immediately be certain of their participation.
For a long time I was angry. I was angry at Governments and countries and organizations that I felt were not pulling their weight. They had opportunities to do something grand, new laws, new meetings, new agreements, but instead took what I felt was a back seat and did a fraction of what they could have. Maybe this is still true of those governments and countries and organizations but it does no good to point fingers and throw accusations.
I have also witnessed young aspirants on other social media stations voicing their concerns as flippantly as when we were children, shouting things we can no longer get away with. I want this to be taken as advice; we need to be careful of the accusations we make because of the consequences that could follow.
Ultimately, all conservationist groups have the same goal but only in working together can we truly be effective. It is very difficult to accuse and criticize somebody but in the same breath ask for their help.
So I urge whoever is reading this to take a second before they shout, no matter how angry the headlines make you, take one second to think; will this help… Or harm?