This whole “Man vs. Bear” debate has blown up all over social media, and a lot of people are saying, “Good luck when you actually encounter a bear.” For a while, I thought I’d never encountered a bear, but just recently, my husband and I were talking about how I once lived in a town that was up in the mountains, so a bear sighting happened every now and again, but no one got hurt. No one got attacked. And then it hit me…..I DID have a somewhat encounter with a bear when I was 15 years old at band camp.

So I was in the color guard, and the first week of September, we would always go to band camp. One day, it was early and we were all still in our cabins getting ready, and we were all told to stay in our cabins because there was a bear sighting. It had wandered into the camping grounds, and it was near the dining hall. It was fine. The camp counselors handled it, our music director handled it. No attack, no injuries. No nothing. The bear left.

Another time at band camp, I was at practice when I realized I had forgotten my guard gloves back at the cabin. I told my colorguard instructor, and he said okay. It was a long walk back, and it was a night, so only the outside lamps on the cabins lit the camp. So, as I was walking back to my cabin, I realized I was by myself. Everyone else was at practice. My initial thought went to “If a man was hiding here, no one would know. If I got taken, no one would know.” This was my thought process as a 15 year old girl, and let me remind you, we’re in camp, in the middle of the woods, so I should be more worried about a bear showing up, right? No.

Walking into the cabin, I got my guard gloves, and before I left, I went to the bathroom. There was no curtain on the window and again my thought process was, “If a man came and looked and saw me, I would be screwed. The cabin doors don’t have locks on them.”

Now granted, bears are dangerous, but they don’t attack unless it’s for their own survival or the survival of their cubs. If a bear came by and saw only one cabin had the lights on, they would think to go attack the person who’s in there. A man with ill intentions would.

If a bear attacks, their goal is to survive.

If a man attacks, their goal is to control.

This was written by our contributing writer, Gigi Grindley.