The Bears

I watched a man ripped to pieces by a bear today. I did nothing to save him. I just watched.

I decided to take the day off today to go to the zoo.  I needed a bit of time to myself and get out to breathe some fresh air. Normally I'm catering to other people in one way or another.  I go to work and help people. I come home and help my family. Day in an day out I'm serving other people, but not today, today is MY day.

As I was walking around the zoo sipping on my overpriced Dr. Pepper, I could feel the crisp air tickling my pores and massaging the tension out of my shoulders. This is exactly what I needed.  I could feel all the tension and stress blowing away with every breeze. It was great to get away for once, at least I thought it was.

My feet started to hurt a bit from walking around, so I decided to sit down on a bench near the bear enclosure. I figured bears are pretty fun to watch and they didn't move around as crazy as monkeys. Right now I just felt like resting my feet and mind; bears are perfect to watch when you want to be lazy.

When I took off one of my shoes, a couple guys sat down next to me to enjoy the bears. They started talking to me about their day at the zoo and a bit about their lives. The guy on my right was a total asshole. He was extremely smart and knew everything about bears.  Yeah,  they do shit in the woods, he saw it happen. I probably would have went my he whole life wondering, but now I know. Thanks asshole!

The guy on my left was amazingly nice. He also knew a lot about bears,  but he just didn't have the hands on experience the jerk on my right had. The nice guy was very passionate about bears and wanted to go to school to be a bear vet. The other guy wanted a bear skin rug.

A little disgusted with the asshole,  went to put my shoe back on and was about to leave when he stopped me by grabbing my arm. I quickly jerked out of his grasp and was about to storm off when he push the other guy into the bear enclosure. Horrified I stood there with my mouth open paused to scream. Nothing came out.

My mind started racing as I watched the bears start to rip the nice man apart. I could jump in and save him... I could call for help... I could SCREAM DAMNIT! I did nothing. I watched as a bear dislocated an arm from the man's body. I watched as blood gushed from his mouth as he tried to gurgle a scream. I stared as a bear dragged his intestines into the cave. I didn't flinch when blood splashed on my face. My only thought was to get out my camera so I could remember how horrible this was.

For a split second I tensed up to run to an emergency phone, but just as I did I felt the man next to me grab my arm again. His grasp almost crushed the bones it was so strong. I turned away from the man getting eaten alive to look at my captor. Even though he was laughing with joy, his eyes told me my murder was next if I moved. Scared shitless, I turned back to watch the bears eat their meal, it was less horrific than the man next to me. My stomach was on the verge of erupting, but I knew if I moved a muscle it would be my last. I just stared, swallowed, and survived.

The chewed up body laid motionless in the bear enclosure next to several bears satisfied by their surprise meal. The man next to me just stood there exhausted from laughing during the carnage. He panted excitedly holding a huge smile on his face. The bears covered in blood will be severely punished for this. The man next to me will get his bear skin rug. I'll have to live with this for the rest of my life.

(This is just a story. It's a metaphor for life and the decisions we make. Even though we try to do the right thing, we're forced to do something against our morales and integrity to survive. It sucks.)