Harambe. Three-year old boy. Cincinnati Zoo. May 28, 2016. Life or death.

This date is one that changed the lives of many, as the beloved gorilla, Harambe, was unexpectedly shot. Online outrage, petitions, Twitter hashtags and most of all, the memes have been nonstop since. Some find the attention given to this topic humorous, but others believe it has been overdone.

A three-year old boy wandered away from his mother and unknowingly started a revolution. The child found his way into the gorilla exhibit of Harambe who appeared to handle the child with both hostility and protection. Ultimately, the gorilla’s life was taken, a decision made by the Cincinnati Zoo which was concerned for the child’s safety with the wild animal.

The five stages of grief began instantly for the people of the nation.

Denial: the people shared the news but wouldn’t believe the gorilla had actually been shot. How could it be true that this rare gorilla was actually dead? Luckily, this stage didn’t last too long for the public to endure through. The nation should have been shocked by the pictures of Syrian children such as the young boy bloodied in the van due to violence in the Middle East.

Anger: ALL CAPS. ALL THEIR FRUSTRATION EXPRESSED. HOW DARE THEY KILL THIS GORILLA?! Tweets upon tweets about how the decision to kill Harambe was the wrong one. This is the point where I started contemplating deleting my Twitter account. We were distracted from being angered by the early release of Stanford rapist, Brock Turner.

Bargaining: People started to debate the situation with a more realistic outlook. Maybe the kid’s life was at stake. Maybe the zoo had no other choice. NOPE. Their reasons for killing him were not enough justification. Too bad people weren’t able to influence the situation, before the child was hurt even more, through their flood of tweets.

Depression: People, again, used Twitter as an outlet for their grief: tears were shed and tweets were shared. The grief was just too much to take in without the support of the public. Our society should have been mourning for the victims of the Italian earthquake.

Acceptance: last but not least! It was quite the journey to reach this stage, but it has been achieved. Memes were developed and have been circling the internet without stop. People honor the memory of Harambe in the Twitter universe through tweets dedicated to him or in a humorous way with pick up lines or jokes based off him.

It is basically worthless for one to scroll through a Twitter timeline, unless they want to see a picture or joke about the one and only Harambe.

This nation has highlighted the death of one gorilla, but what should we have been really focused on? How about the presidential election, which determines the nation’s future for the next four years and beyond? Or perhaps shootings of unarmed citizens and police officers? We should have the same passion for honoring Harambe as we do for those who give the ultimate sacrifice for our country.

Maybe the priorities of this nation should be focused on something that can actually make a difference in today’s society.