Nature

In class, we discussed how nature or being outdoors has become less and less of a focal point. I completely agree with this. Growing, we did not have game systems or even the Internet until I was in sixth or seventh grade. We had to entertain ourselves in other ways, mostly by playing outdoors. My friends, siblings, and I would rush through homework after school just so we could play outside for a few hours. During the summer, we were hardly indoors. Now, kids get excited when new versions of video games or game systems come out. They can figure out how to kill 500 people at once with a few buttons on a controller but cannot climb a tree. While this is all appalling and disturbing, there are those who take bonding with nature too far. We started watching "Grizzly Man" and learned a little about Timothy Treadwell and his idea of being with nature. There is something to be respected about his time with the bears and what he was trying to accomplish, but at the same time, one must ask if he was crazy? He sat there talking about how powerful these animals are and that the one in particular is dangerous. To me, it seemed almost as if he was asking to be attacked. I love nature as much as the next person, but there are boundaries that need to be respected. As I was watching the film, it reminded me of a similar story I had seen on "60 Minutes." There is another man living in Alaska and sharing his home with grizzly and black bears. To me, he seems a little more intelligent than Treadwell, but both are too extreme for my liking. These are wild animals that need to be respected, which includes leaving them to the land by themselves. I've provided a link to the transcript and segment of video from "60 Minutes." What do you think? Are they both crazy or can we learn something from the two men?

http://sixtyminutes.ninemsn.com.au/stories/liambartlett/587148/the-bear-man