Why Bigfoot is Cool

The legend of the Bigfoot is as alive today as it ever was.  I was watching an interesting documentary on ol’ Sasquatch on the National Geographic channel this afternoon, with my son.  I asked him if he had heard of Bigfoot, and was surprised to hear that he had.  After all he is only six and a half years old.  He told me that Bigfoot is in some of the cartoons he watches.  Ain’t that somethin’?

According to the program, there are supposedly male and female Sasquatches, and they live primarily in the Pacific Northwestern United States; although there are tales of Mr. and Mrs. Foot(s) from all over the world.

One of the interesting characteristics of these charming guys and dolls is that they are very shy and elusive.  The well-known 1967 video is highly questionable, as the cameraman has died and his pal claims to have been paid to put on a Bigfoot suit.  The friend is still alive (and indeed walks exactly like the figure on camera), but different ‘experts’ have different opinions.  Same goes for the molds of the supersized footprints.

In any case, it seems that people are still camping out to get a glimpse of one of our hairy heroes. There are some who feel we must kill one for the good of the species.  Whatever.  There is even a town that has a holiday, where they all come out and party one day a year in honor of the yet-unconfirmed creature.

While watching this program, it struck me that Bigfoot is extremely cool.  Kind of in the way of Michael J. Fox’s teenage werewolf, if you know what I mean.  In pondering why he/she is still so cool, I came up with 3.2 reasons.

First of all: Bigfoot does not attack people.  While we are all in awe of their supposed size and strength, they appear to be peaceful freaks of nature. They could in theory, rip our limbs off, but don’t.  I can dig that.

Second: Bigfoot is supersized, and of superhuman strength.  Strongman contests are still prevalent on ESPN, and have existed in some for in all cultures for ages.  If anyone doubts that having super-human capabilities is cool, I refer you to comic books, and the Justice League, etc.

Third: they keep to themselves, and do not seek publicity.  This is the ultimate key to coolness.  Sasquatches do not seek fame or fortune; and because they are not trying to get invited to all the best parties in town, people want to know why.  There is an important lesson here for humans.

I think if a Big, Medium, and Little Foot family were constantly knocking on people’s doors, trying to get people to like them, people would find them annoying, and pass legislation about how many Foot Families could legally live within a certain area.  But because these guys and gals, real or imagined, can’t be bothered with human interaction or attention, we all want to know all about them and why they don’t want to talk to us.

The 3.2 reason that Bigfoot is cool: it is enough like us to be familiar, and different enough to be exotic.  This is similar to our depiction of aliens, who are not quite human, but still enough like us to be recognizable.  Another case where the science is still out, and we are as a whole completely fascinated; but that is a subject for another article.

The point to be made here is similar to what I said before.  If you stop trying to be like everybody else, and just figure out what you are enthusiastic about, you will become much more interesting to everyone else.  You will still be enough like others to be familiar, and just different enough to stand out.  And that is way cool; like Bigfoot.