the ongoing literary battle, but in 2024.

Bear versus man. The fight we never expected. Then again, perhaps it is.

Most of literature is written as Man vs. Something.

Man vs. Nature. Man vs. Man. Man vs. God.

It was about time for such a subject to pop back up within our society.

For all of those who may not know, what is the gist of this?

The concept is: if one's daughter, wife, or sister was lost in the woods and bound to encounter something, would you prefer that Something to be a bear or a man?

Naturally, several women prefer the bear, and when giving their explanations,

they fall into deaf ears to the point where several individuals

are now making the joke of choosing a lion in a cage vs. the concept of marriage.

Well,

I live in a country where there is an ongoing word like an echo, a screaming heartbeat

of outrage,

"Femicide."

Over and over again--

in the posters of missing women you know will never be found,

in the mind of every woman being followed street after street in the dark,

in the rushed heartbeat of every woman alone in a car with a man who tells her,

"My, you look pretty. Are you single? Are you married?

Do you have children? I'll give you a free ride if you agree to come home with me."

No one is arguing men do not go through violence, through hurt, through pain.

No one is arguing the insanity in this schizophrenic world does not somehow

inevitably go

both ways.

Hurt is hurt, no matter the race, no matter the gender.

There is a war going on and somehow we turn a blind eye because ultimately we know,

"What exactly can I do about it? What can I do about everything

that is going so, so wrong?"

Which is exactly the very problem; when we make jokes about what we do not

understand.

When we look away from the bleeding streets instead of doing whatever we can

to make it right.

When we turn against one another, wasting our time and our breath convincing someone that when a bear sees a human in the woods,

they will understand it is a human,

when most goddamn humans

don't.