If it Doesn't Scare the Cows...

Timothy Treadwell lived his entire life, long before communing with bears, surrounded by his own theatrics. I was surprised to learn that his real name isn't even "Treadwell," and that he changed it to sound more dramatic. Upon moving to California, he invented a brand new persona, researching in detail a small town in Australia and attempting to replicate an accent. And that's how Timothy Treadwell, the Australian orphan and up-and-coming actor, was born. 

Later, Timothy was employed at Medieval-themed role-playing restaurant, where he continued to mask his true self. This pattern of escapism persisted as he slipped into drug abuse and alcoholism. But he did eventually give all that up and constructed a new reality. In the Alaskan forrest, the bears were his friends, nature was utterly harmonious, and he could transcend his personhood. 

During class discussion, Tim's constructions were often called "delusions," and I would tend to agree. It seems to me that he spent the majority of his life running from himself. He wants to abandon every aspect of his humanness and become a bear, which, to me, suggests some amount of shame. And while it may not be the best long term strategy to refuse facing that shame, he certainly did outrun it. Treadwell died a happy man (as far as I can tell), and that counts for a lot. 

One of Tim's friends mentioned the saying, "'If it doesn't scare the cows, who cares?' I don't think Tim scared the cows." So maybe he wasn't doing anything wrong. To each his own, I suppose, and if the only way Tim could have been happy was through extreme escapism, then let him be deluded.