196? I was across the street at Grandma's neighbor's. There were kids there with your typical mid-century primary color painted aluminum backyard playground equipment: slide, swing, teeter totters. I never had those things myself, so I had to borrow neighbors'. There were kids there, but I don't remember my interaction with them. My mom was there too and she pointed out a bug to me climbing on the slide. It was a white caterpillar with red antennae with knobs. It didn't look real, it looked like a cartoon caterpillar, with its red eyes. I watched it in disbelief. My mom remembers it too, to this day, but I'm not so sure if it was the caterpillar itself that made us remember, or the horrible event that happened afterward. The other kids saw it too and started freaking out about the bug. Then one of them poured water on it and knocked it to the ground where a group of them proceeded to stomp on it until it was dead. If I had my way, I would've taken it with me, brought it back to Grandma's and put it in a jar. Maybe I would've killed it too, not willfully, but by not knowing what to feed it, or not being around to release it if it pupated and then turned into an adult moth or butterfly. But if I would have killed it, it would've been through love and fascination of it. It would've been a very young child's science experiment, and I would've gained some knowledge about it. If my mom would've cared, she would've stopped them. She wouldn't have let a bunch of kids take over like an angry mob. That is what I would've done, I would've stopped them, even if it meant prying the worm out of some sprog's paw. Why did she let them kill it? I don't care if they weren't my kids, I would not have let that happen. I just stood there in total shock and disbelief. I'm still in disbelief that she, the adult on site, didn't stick up for a poor defenseless creature that was being hurt.
1987 We leave the hotel in Ogden, UT, and head up north towards Idaho. It is the end of May and everything is so green, especially after the heavy rains the night before. It must have been a large river valley, perhaps the Green River. It was so beautiful. This image of traveling northwest in the early morning across the green grass haunts me at night in my dreams as a reoccurring image. Little did I know this pastoral scerenity would be shattered when we got to Seattle.
199? 200? It's hard to describe, but it's like I see the towns from a new perspective and in a new light. With X-Ray vision I delve beneath the suburban veneer and see the rotting infrastructure. Sometimes the rot comes to the surface...peeling paint, crumbling foundations, broken fences. But it's not just those obvious physical characteristics--it's something deeper, more sinister. To use a dreaded comparison, it's like you're on the Holodeck on the Starship, but instead of seeing this fantasy world, you see what's really there...just a grid pattern. This whole town is one giant Holodeck, fooling everyone like a science fiction horrorshow. I can see the grid, and that's all that is there. Just the grid. Why can't anyone else see it?
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I remember something similar to the story about the caterpillar, some boys at school pulled the wings off a butterfly. I was the only one there who reacted on it, as far as I recall there were only boys around so maybe that was why (not because I'm being sexisitic and saying girls are more soft and sensitive, I just think boys, especially at that age, behave as they think is expected of them in order to be accepted and not called homo). It's a huge difference between killing something because you are thoughtless (as a kid) and doing it because you're sadistic. Cause I believe kids can be sadistic.
I blame the parents. Some kids might be naturally kind, some might be naturally sadistic. I think it's up to the parent to bring out the good and discourage the bad through example and from teaching them at a very young age to be kind to all living things and how to treat them with respect.
Too many parents just don't care.
I wish I could see what you are seeing in the grid, but I do not idealize the surburban life style. I heard that more people die by being hit by cars and shot with guns in the suburbs than in inner cities - per capita....
I thought the drive to Seatle was very beautiful, and especially the fantastic trees in eastern Washington - I think they were Dougles Furs?
The insect tragidy is very sad, and I don't understand other kids, because I never felt like hurting any small animals. My parents had to teach me to kill flies and they wanted me to kill millers and spiders too when they were in the house. I would catch the insects and release them outside.
Too bad your dad wouldn't let you have cats so you wouldn't have to kill the millers yourself. Cats know how to get of them very well without us having to mess with them. Well, you know that already. I wish we had millers here in WI so that the cat could enjoy it. Is that mean? To want your cats to have fun at the expense of other living things?
I meant catS (plural) above. typo.
And it's Douglas FIRS.
at my neighbors house we found a little snail in the creek. but before we could stop him, her cousin reaced out abd squished it in her hand!!! it pissed us off. what a snot. was your mom shocked at their reaction to the caterpillar?
my kids are afraid to kill bugs. we hav scorpions in the house that send the kids screaming. but we make them kill them on site(with a shoe)- or it will disappear. they are awful, and icky- and even my german shepard is afaid of them! but i would never let my kids kill for pleasure- that is so sick.
my inlaws taught bruce to stomp on ants or spiders when he has shoes on. but when he and i saw a lady bug, i showed it to him and told him they were good bugs and that we don't kill them.
i like your holodeck analogy. moments like that are frightening. i want t shake the stupid out of people!
"was your mom shocked at their reaction to the caterpillar?" I can't remember what her reaction to that was. I remember she was quite amazed at the caterpillar itself, but as far as when it was killed, I don't know. I never asked her, and I won't, as it would probably cause me to escalate ("why didn't you stop them?") and I don't want to get into an argument about it with her.
"I showed it to him and told him they were good bugs"
Most bugs are! I'd love to see all mosquitos destroyed though. I think bats and dragonflies would still be able to eat other things if all mosquitos were gone from the earth. I can't see any good in mosquitos. And locusts or grasshoppers are bad if you have crops. Bed bugs and fleas and ticks are bad if you or your animals have them. But other than that, I can't think of any bad bugs.
Someday - hopfully in a distant future - the human species will become extinct.... Insects will still continue to live and thrive. Perhaps all insects are good and we are just a fad species or flash in the pan variety of animal like some short burp in the time of living species.
Or something like that.
Have I got the site for you, Stan: Voluntary Human Extinction Movement.
stan, you are funny.
i hate mosquitos too, carrying diseases! spiders eat other bugs, and daddy long legs are sacred in our home, ever since i was a child, because they eat other spiders but don't hurt humans. i had a teeny tiney spider biting my foot the other day. it stung!! i killed it! i guess locusts are ok, because you eat the bugs after they eat the crops, lol! we have fire ants, and they eat protein, meaning humans! bites swell up and fill with pus like zits. bruce was attacked and in seconds his poor feet were covered! it took like 2 weeks to clear up. i cant step outside barefoot without getting eaten. we are calling terminex. fleas on people and pets can be dangerous- that is why dogs get mange and there fur falls off. ticks carry lime diease, which hurts humans. i know bugs are benifial- a big dead moth was devoured in a day or two on our portch- but we have too many bugs out here in the country. and roaches? we dont have those, luckily. wasps and honets make chantz run away like a baby- he is sensitive. they don't bother me.
wow- i keep going on and on and on. i should shut up now. it is super early and i need to go back to bed. the dog had to pee at 4:30 and then brandy was hungry.... *sigh* am not wearing my glasses either.
sorry
Sorry Dawn - I didn't mean to get you upset. You're right that many insects are dangerous and they always will be insects that are dangerous to humans. I still think they are beautiful animals, and even the ones that are dangerous like misquitos are amaizing to look at. I think they are some of the most visually interesting animals and as a life form they are very interesting to learn about too.
No matter what we do as organizims we will go extinct someday, and humans are going to be a short lived species compaired to other animals like turtles and horse shoe crabs.
Insects are amoung the kinds of animals that will outlive us, and to me that means we owe them at least some respect. They are here before us and they'll be here after we are gone, and I think that is a wild concept to put our minds around no matter whether we find them beautiful or repulsive.
they are interesting to look at, i agree.
i didn't mean to get worked up tho. i just really hate certain bugs. have you seen a live scorpion? they are rubbery, it's weird. pretty, but dangerous. and really fast!
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