Connections

The movie Grizzly man really struck a chord in me and it's a movie that I definitely can't easily forget. Was it the beauty of Alaska and the wildlife that resonated so deeply with me? Or was it the fanatical passion that Timothy had toward the bear and other wildlife? Maybe it was both. When I was younger I also shared that fanatical passion toward wildlife. I was a consummate hunter and trapper and spent all of my free time out in the wild. I even made my own wildlife documentary when I was in the 9th grade. It may seem odd that I could love and appreciate the wildlife that I was killing. But, hunting and trapping helped me to learn about and understand the wild that no textbook could ever teach me. I used to wake up at 2:00 am in the morning during HS for the month of November and check my trap-line until school started. These early morning forays into the wild were spent wading through rivers and creeks in the middle of the night checking my traps for muskrat, raccoon, mink, fox and beaver. Many mornings I would accidentally catch a skunk and would go to school smelling rather badly. However, in order to be a good trapper or hunter you have to think like the animal. You have to understand where they walk, swim, eat and fly. By thinking like the animal you begin to understand the animal and this understanding is what eventually made me appreciate and love wildlife in a way that no city person has the opportunity to. Watching my dog Midnight track pheasants and flush these birds out of their hiding place, tracking a deer through cornfield in the middle of winter, building a duck blind and calling the ducks to come and land in your blind or lying on my back in the middle of a corn-field while geese landed inches from my face. All of these experiences helped me to appreciate and understand some of the other creatures that we share this planet with.

In college I wanted to make this passion a career and therefore went on journey to become a wildlife biologist. I spent my summers doing research in Michigan, Montana and Canada. I published papers and conducted advanced degree work at a very early age. However, I soon realized that I did not want to earn a PhD and study wildlife from a distance. I also quickly realized that I loved wildlife in general and couldn't see myself studying only one animal for the rest of my life.

As I was watching Grizzly Man, I understood the passion that Timothy had for these animals. The feeling of connection that you only get from being in the wild. It makes me sad to think that so many people have never experienced this feeling of connection with the other creatures we share this planet with. Cities, concrete, cars, jobs and money have become the new "animals" that we look up to and revere. How can we save something if we don't revere it?

So was Timothy a hero? I don't know. What I do know is that he was out trying to do something, whether you agreed with him or not, while so many others sit back and do nothing. He was out there trying to change the world, not sitting on his back-side playing video games, obsessing about money and continuing to consume the resources of this planet. Anybody that sticks their neck out and does something new will be criticized. What choice will you make? Will you be the one sticking your neck out or the one doing the criticizing?