Sad

I read a news story that disturbed me a little bit and made me unusually sad. A man in Canada was walking with his dog along a trail when a mama bear saw him and attacked. He was bitten and injured but managed to use his one good arm to pick up a small log and beat the bear over the head. He kept beating her until she was on the ground and blood was coming out of her nose. She died and the man ran to get medical attention.

Why am I so sad over this? It hurts my heart. I feel awful for the man. I feel awful for the bear. I want to give hugs to both the man and the bear. Both parties were simply acting on their natural instincts. Neither was wrong in their actions…so strange that the scales can tip neither in favor of right nor wrong when an incident like this is classified simply as “unfortunate”.

It feels like the imperfection of this world amplified when two creatures meet and only one walks away. And anther totally uninvolved creature (myself) feels pain over even hearing about the incident. It’s a trifecta of anguish. Or is it a prime example of the perfection of God’s nature for two creatures to act precisely as they were programmed to act and for me to feel the way I do about it. Sad to my core.

All that happens (in this case, this "unfortunate" incident) does so to serve God’s purpose – the purpose of being reminded how imperfect this world is, so we can perhaps appreciate the perfection of the next world. The fragile, the flawed, the fleeting – all must be this way so that the pendulum can swing the other way into a world of the strong, the perfect, and the permanent.

I would like to imagine in the next realm, the man and the bear will meet again on a stretch of ethereal road and give each other a big hug and roll around laughing and playing - like a kid hugging a giant teddy bear.

And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, And the leopard will lie down with the young goat, And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little boy will lead them.

--Isaiah 11:6