Maybe more animals deserve a week of their own...animals like bears

Another terrific Shark Week has come to a close. Shark Week forces me to think about a lot of difficult questions. For example, knowing that great white sharks like to hang out just off the coast in Southern California do I really want to learn to surf (leading to this conversation)? Or given the chance would I really jump into a cage in the middle of the ocean to see those sharks up close? While the answers to those specific questions may very well be the affirmative, this year's Shark Week has reminded me of a much more difficult question to answer. Would I rather be killed by a shark or a bear? Just to be clear we'll specify that the shark in question is a great white and the bear is a grizzly.

There is no easy answer here. On the one hand the shark attack will probably come out of no where making for a rather instantaneous kill, but is there any honor in that? I think with the bear you could at least go down fighting. And with the bear you can at least die on dry ground (hopefully), the way man was intended to die instead of flailing around helplessly in the ocean. It's a tough call in my opinion.

Turning the tables on the question doesn't make it that much easier to answer. Would you rather kill a shark or a bear with your bare hands? Initially I thought bear, no doubt. I mean I'd rather have a stuffed bear in my den than a big ol' fish with sharp teeth. Then a friend pointed out that you don't really want to kill something as majestic and awesome as a bear. You really want to befriend one, ideally by besting it in a feats of strength or cunning gaining its respect almost like a kung fu master conceding to his pupil. I am sure at that point the two of you could hang out around town and you could ride it around like a boss. My friend honestly changed my paradigm here.

Of course such thought provoking questions made me realize that while Shark Week is pretty great, there are lots of other animals out there that could easily fill a whole week of programming too. At the top of this list has got to be bears. This guy wrote up all the reasons why, yes, Bear Week would be just as good, possibly better, than Shark Week. Be sure to sign the petition at the end too. You better believe that I did. Until next year Shark Week and here's to a world where Bear Week is not just a really good idea.