Our Brother the Insect

We have all had it happen were we had to kill an invading insect. They come into our house, so we kill them. Why? Why do you kill that tiny insignificant bug? It has done nothing to deserve your cruelty. All its doing is going about it’s own business. If you are not convinced than I will try to change your mind here.

We would find it mean to kill a bird that would feed someone. Yet we unintentionally do this all the time when we squish that bothersome bug. Often times the insects in our home feed on other insects. So by killing that one bug you might be killing countless others.

We would find it cruel to kill someone imprisoned unjustly. These insects seek out optimal conditions for their survival. Often times this place is our home. Due to changing conditions insects often move around. So when they come into our house and then look to leave they can’t. Instead of letting them out they are trapped. It is usually when they are looking for a way out that they are noticed and killed.

We would find it heartless to kill a person with six months to live. But we do this countless times with insects. These bugs don’t have long to live. At most they have two weeks to experience life. Yet the moment we see them we kill them, never realizing that we would probably never see that bug again.

We would find it a crime to humanity to destroy a great work of art. Yet every time we kill an insect we are doing this. Insects are beautiful works of evolution. Mastering almost every environment, and having magnificent shapes and forms. But instead of pausing to appreciate their beauty we kill them. Which is slapping Mother Nature in the face.

Insects pre-date humans and will probably out live us. They are passive creatures, more afraid of us than we are of them. Unnoticed short-lived creatures that we stomp on without so much as a thought. I say stop, let that thought in. Let it creep into your mind like the insect that has crawled into your house. Let it take hold of your mind and before your know it the insect is gone.