When something happens in the world that strikes PMB as so fundamentally wrong, the bear becomes philosophical. As Japan picks up the pieces of pre-disaster life from post-disaster rubble and war breaks out in Libya, what moves you? As Uganda's parliament considers a bill to legalize the execution of homosexuals, and systematic rape rages on in Sudan, what moves you? When women are stoned to death in the Middle East and prisoners held without due process on Guantanamo Bay, what shocks you?
What moves PMB about the premature and unexpected death of a 4-year-old Polar Bear is not merely species affinity, but a deep and burrowing sense of sadness. The root of this sadness is tragedy: humanity thinks it knows tragedy; but when tragedy happens on a nonhuman scale, humans fail to comprehend non-humanly. Humans should know the depth of tragedy, its layers, its multitudes. Humans should know that tragedy begins small and discreet. It brings a little wave over fiddler crab, turning it on its back; then it brings a big wave and we name it tragedy. It puts a wounded calf in a wolves' den, then it puts a girl neck-deep in a stoning pit, and we name it tragedy. It takes the life of a photogenic polar creature before its time, then it takes the life of someone from your tribe, your kind. And then you name it tragedy. These things are not equivalent, but they are related.
Lessons from Knut (Maxims and Barbs):
1) Before you name them, there are seeds of tragedy all around.
2) All humans understand of death is distorted through the jagged lens of (human) life.
3) A bear will eat you if he's hungry enough, but your humanity he will find indigestable.
4) Your brain doesn't forestall the possibility of play, but your job does.
5) We all have claws: some for tearing flesh, some for digging holes, some for scratching surfaces.
6) If you have the courage to love across boundaries, you can be your own god; life imitates art.
7) Fur warms the body, but connection warms the heart.
8) Mind your foundation, for you stand on ice and the sun is out.
9) Forgetting is the process by which memories are internalized.
10) Be good to bear, for bear has brought you joy.
