I am not fond of bugs, computerized or otherwise. Recently I had a Little Miss Muffett moment while I was relaxing in my recliner. I felt a bit of movement on the back of my shoulder and when I reach up to check it out I felt something round and bug-like. I have no idea what it was because I frantically brushed it off of my shoulder. I don’t know where it went. I couldn’t find it. That alone creeps me out. I imagine there is a squished arachnid keeping me company somewhere in my recliner. I need to vacuum thoroughly.
When I was a kid I was terrified of wood ticks. Actually I still am afraid of ticks. My family often went out for picnics and fishing expeditions into the wilds of Minnesota. My Mom told us when we were toddlers she would put me and my sisters in the bathtub when we came home and pick the ticks out of our scalps. Just the thought of it makes me squirm. I remember riding home from an excursion into the great outdoors. I was sitting in the car behind my Dad and I saw a tick crawling on the back of his collar. I guess someone grabbed it. I doubt that it was me. I just remember spending the rest of the drive feeling like I was trapped in a vehicle full of creepy crawlies. I couldn’t wait to get home and strip down. I know I am not alone in my fear of bugs. It’s not a very rational fear. I am way bigger and smarter than they are. Or at least I am bigger. In high school biology we had to make a “collection” of either leaves or insects. There was only one person who did insects. She was one of my friends. I couldn’t even imagine actually choosing to go around and collect bugs, but she always marched to a different drummer and was much braver and more enlightened than the rest of us. My internet research revealed that insects have been on this planet much longer than we have and they way outnumber us. About 80% of the Earth’s animals are insects. They have been present on earth for about 350 million years. Our ancestors have only been around for about six million years, and the modern form of humans only evolved about 200,000 years ago. The earliest fossil cockroach is about 280 million years old – 80 million years older than the first dinosaurs! I know that they are an important part of our ecology and that life on this planet would cease to exist if it wasn’t for bugs. And despite their Alien-like appearance, they are much less scary than we think. Of the huge numbers of insects on earth, only one percent are harmful to humans. Most insects are harmless or actually beneficial. For example, without bees to pollinate flowers, plants would not have a way of reproducing and we wouldn’t have anything to eat! I do like bees, and butterflies, and ladybugs, and other "cute" bugs. It's the ugly ones that send chills up my spine. Despite their beneficial attributes, we humans continue to denigrate insects and try to squish and spray them into oblivion. Even calling a computer attack a “bug” is a putdown of their real value and importance. I doubt that I could ever learn to love wood ticks in the way I love my cats, and I’m not going to stop protecting myself from a spider crawling up my shoulder by smashing the bee-geebies out of it, but perhaps I can learn to appreciate bugs in the same way I have learned to appreciate opossums. I just hope Weebly can get that darn bug off my blog site.
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Leslie Masona woman in search of her post-retirement future Guess what! By subscribing, you get notices about the latest Little Old Lady with Cats posts sent to your mailbox!
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