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Home » Think you’re having a hellish week? Not like this guy.

Think you’re having a hellish week? Not like this guy.

grizzly bear roaring angrily

Sometimes it helps to get a little perspective.

Your boss is a jerk, your coworkers don’t pull their weight – while simultaneously talking down to you, like you aren’t the one doing all the heavy lifting around here – and you won’t get a day off until September.

And the kids are jerks, it’s your spouse’s turn to make the grocery trip – so why are they shouting random grocery items at you like you should go AGAIN – and the car is too messy to hide and drink wine in.

But at least you aren’t being relentlessly stalked and attacked by a grizzly bear.

Last Friday, July 16, the US Coast Guard serendipitously rescued a man in Alaska who had been repeatedly harassed and attacked by a bear. For days.

grizzly bear in a field
Image by: Diliff assumed (based on copyright claims). – No machine-readable source provided. Own work assumed (based on copyright claims)., CC BY 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=709746

The New York Times reported an interview with the Coast Guard pilot that spotted the poor guy who suffered non-life-threatening injuries. He had written SOS and Help Me on the roof of his shack, and when their helicopter flew overhead, they saw him waving both arms over his head.

If you learn nothing else from this article, learn this: Wave two arms for help! Maybe that is universally known, but I didn’t know it!

The co-pilot said a guy was waving at them. The pilot asked, “One arm or two?” See, a two-armed wave is a sign of distress. I guess one-armed waves just mean hello? If he had waved only one arm he may have been passed.

It was pure luck that they spotted him in the first place. They had changed course somewhat to avoid weather. Truly fortunate for the as-of-yet unnamed man in his late 50’s or early 60’s.

The man was in a remote area of Alaska near Nome, staying in a shack at an old miner’s camp near a river. He was alone and had no phone or other form of communication.

He wasn’t alone for long. Soon, the grizzly found him and didn’t want to let him go. It came back night after night. At some point, the bear had dragged the man down to the river. It had also ripped the door off his shack. The man fended off the bear with a pistol, but he had only two rounds left. He hadn’t slept in days.

bear family in Alaska

Then he heard the helicopter. The Coast Guard picked him up and took him to Nome where, in true Liam Neeson fashion, he insisted on walking himself to the ambulance.

We Gen X’ers love us some adventure, but be careful out there folks. Know the risks and take precautions. And thank your lucky stars when things go your way.

Look forward to the Netflix original feature-length film in, I don’t know, four days? However long it takes them to make those.

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