Bug Profiling

 

 

Is there such a thing as bug profiling I ask Orkin Pest Control? A response never comes but I am curious about this. What if innocent bugs are killed for no reason nor good cause and the ones you want to go away must be exterminated with the ones you do not mind staying. Is this not a bit like terrorism? Where do we draw the line between terrorism and bug control? I suppose it is all a matter of relativity; we don't relate to bugs. They climb the walls, they go on our beds and we fear we may drink them if they plunge into our cups. We scream when we see them, do they scream when they see us? We know that they will never speak to us and we know that we cannot communicate with them. But, does that make it more okay to kill them I ask? I cannot speak most foreign languages and therefore this limits my communication with them.

We look different depending on where we live and our skin is lighter or darker plus our facial features are sometimes different. Do we think they are odd and we are not? But then are they? And are we?

We see different customs and habits of people from all over the globe on TV. We cringe at times and sometimes we cry or we change the channel. We see a bug and we cringe, we cry and we call Orkin. What should we really do about it? What do we really care? Should we do something? Are we naturally profiling? Should we not try to relate to our differences and accept that we are all God's creatures no matter how small and no matter how large? Are bugs part of this life we share?

Then a little one comes up to me in human form calling me Mom and tells me to please put the giant spider outside. He begs me, "Mom, please don't kill it, put it outside!" I look at my son in wonder at how such an innocent life can already make a judgement about saving a life? Is killing not really an instinct? Perhaps killing is not and we become immune or programmed to kill? I put the grotesque spider outside hoping it will be crushed by my careless capture, intentional careless capture. Then I wonder, could I kill if I had reason enough, for example, a human? I look at the spider in a different light as if this was a tiny human shaking with fear and realize that same as how we feel towards foreign people that look and speak differently than us and have unusual habits and customs, are really all comparable to this insect in the way that it is life. All life deserves the same equal chance.

Then I think about the recent London bombings. Just like Orkin spraying poison to exterminate insects, terrorists bombed and exterminated with little concern for harming human life. No selection was being made but random killing. Who is to judge and who is to care? If we can't relate to them, because they don't look like us and they don't talk like us, do we have any right to eliminate?

So, again I think about the little ones in human form of all shapes and sizes and colors and facial features and wonder if they care? Do we care about them? Isn't it time that we do and as the saying goes, charity starts at home.

I just canceled Orkin.

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