BEAR MEAT

I imagine few of the people who have seen "Into The Wild" realize that this quote is from a collection of short stories by Primo Levi called "A Tranquil Star". One short story in particular: Bear Meat.

I've been wanting a tattoo for years now and those two words have been on my mind a lot. Bear meat. It might seem ironic for someone who is, for all intents and purposes, a vegetarian (well, pescatarian, but let's not get into semantics) to get these words emblazoned across her skin. However, I don't abstain from eating meat because I think it's unnatural (on the contrary) but because commercial farming is cruel and that cruelty - to me, what I believe in and how I try to live my life - is unnatural. Instead "bear meat" is on my mind because it's a story about nature and about man in nature, as a part of nature - not as one who conquers nature.

Levi writes later “That was bear meat. Now, you must believe me, gentlemen, many years have passed, and I regret having eaten so little of it. I think and hope that each of you has gleaned from life what I have—a certain measure of ease, respect, love, and success. Well, I’ll tell you the truth, none of these things, not even remotely, has the taste of bear meat: the taste of being strong and free, which means free to make mistakes; the taste of feeling young in the mountains, of being your own master, which means master of the world."

Words worth considering.