The banner photo is that of a Grizzly bear simply known as bear "399" taken from the internet. She is often referred to as the "matriarch" or the "queen" of Yellowstone National Park and the greater Yellowstone region, because she was an old sow who had birthed a great many cubs over a span of 28+ years, outliving and outbirthing every other known bear in the region.
A few years back, as I was using up some vacation time, I decided to do a couple of days of camping in Yellowstone in late October. As I was leaving the park's east entrance, I came around a bend to find a literal horde of vehicles parked on the shoulder of the mountainous road in an otherwise nearly empty park (which is the case that time of year, shortly before all the roads close for the winter). There on the shoulder of the road was a Grizzly with a cub, that I later learned was the Grizzly known as "Raspberry." Now it was certainly a cool thing to see (from the safety of my own truck), but what shocked me were the numbers of people with cameras and tripods, all standing within 5 feet of this wild animal, who was contentedly grazing on the shoulder with her cub. Park rules (appropriately so) say to maintain a healthy distance of at least 25 feet or more from any and all wild animals including elk, bison, and especially Grizzly bears. They are still wild, are still fast, and can still inflict serious damage on a person, including death, quickly and before you even suspect something is happening. My bear encounters in the back country have usually been peaceful, but with showing extreme deference and respect for them, and NEVER coming between a mother and her cubs. While my encounter with "Raspberry" was peaceful as I drove slowly by the crowd without stopping, such encounters often look like these photos taken from the internet of encounters with Grizzly 399:
Ok, enough about encounters and rule violations. There are far more serious matters at stake here. So why a post about Grizzlies? Because on the evening of October 22, Grizzly 399 (the queen of Yellowstone) was struck and killed in the Snake River Canyon south of Yellowstone Park. Now certainly it is a tragedy that in our misguided stewardship of the planet, we encroach into the territory of wild animals and routinely there are car versus animal collisions, often resulting in the death of the animal and sometimes the driver as well. Being an amateur photographer myself (stressing the word "amateur"), I follow a lot of photography pages on social media. One such page is called "Yellowstone Through the Lens" on Facebook. As you can imagine, there are many photographs of wildlife there. It is even safe to say that the wildlife photos dominate the page. While not my preferred cup of tea (I am more into landscape photography), I appreciate all of the great photos, despite that I know they at least sometimes come from such mad scenes as above.
So when news of the death of Grizzly 399 came out, you can imagine that photos taken over the years began to emerge, with hundreds and thousands of people grief stricken over the loss. What was truly sickening were the numerous comments (we are talking in the hundreds and thousands here) wishing harm and legal action against the driver of the vehicle, who escaped injury in the collision. Having been involved in wildlife conservation efforts in the past, I can say with certainty also that many of these same people, who are in despair over the death of this Grizzly, think nothing at all of their stewardship of their own kind. They are distraught and in despair over the death of a wild animal, and yet not only think nothing of the death or harm to another human, but actually celebrate the wholesale slaughter of human beings. Yes, I'm referring to the thousands of unborn lives that are sacrificed daily here in America on the altar of convenience, thinly justified and veiled under the guise of "reproductive health care" and "the right to choose." Many of the very people who are so distraught over the death of this Grizzly, think nothing of wanting harm to come to a fellow human being or the harm done daily in the wholesale slaughter of our own unborn. Quite frankly, this is a travesty of galactic proportions. Given that this is but one instance of such skewed stewardship, I have to daily remind myself that I'm not in charge: God is. I observe the galactic stupidity of the human race on a daily basis. I'm often the target of such stupid and sinful behavior, and without reminding myself constantly who is truly in charge, I would be in complete despair.
I thought numerous times about posting a comment to this effect under the plethora of posts there now. But as social media encounters usually go, it would end up with a huge backlash of people arguing the point, and quite frankly, I rarely post my opinions and points of view any longer, because inevitably, someone will get upset and will lash out. At that point, it becomes the proverbial grade school "monkey pile" as people wait in line to dump on you, as apparently they are wanting to do to the anonymous driver of the vehicle that struck and killed Grizzly 399.
It seemed better instead to state my opinions on the matter in this forum, and I challenge any and all readers to truly think of what matters in this world. While it is indeed tragic regarding the death of 399, it pales in comparison to the tragedy of what we are doing to ourselves.
your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be. (Psalm 139:15-16)
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