Treadwell seemed to understand something about nature that most people do not. He was able to live with the bears and other creatures for years without harm. I think that shows a deeper understanding of nature, since that is something most people can't, or won't, do. Treadwell, however, let his emotions cloud his judgement. He grew to care very deeply for the animals he lived with, so he let his guard down. The animals that were fond of him let their guard down some too, but they grew up in the wild and knew that they still had to be cautious of him. Treadwell wanted so badly to connect with living things that his emotions became his demise.
Its easy to say that Treadwell was dumb because of his actions and Herzog was smarter because he was more aware of the dangers, but Herzog had advantages that Treadwell did not. Herzog, like the rest of us, had hindsight bias. Herzog also didn't have this huge disconnect with humans and confusion about his own humanity that Treadwell did. Its obvious that Herzog was right to be cautious of nature, but Treadwell wasn't at fault for wanting to connect. He likely had mental illness, and since he struggled with alcoholism, he had demons to fend off as well. Fleeing to nature is what Treadwell believed helped him the most. It's understandable that he would want to run away from his problems.
Treadwell believed in nature. He viewed it as this amazing, spiritual force that other humans could not handle. He was protective of it, and heavily romanticized it. Herzog didn't wear the rose colored glasses that Treadwell did. Herzog was aware of the dangers, but still had profound respect for nature. He cared for nature, but understood that that was a one way street.
No comments:
Post a Comment