A Colorado license plate series says "Respect Life" at the bottom. The first time I saw it, I thought, "Oh. Is that one of those anti-choice people?" I wondered if it was someone who thinks a blob of cells smaller than the period at the end of this sentence is an actual human being Then I decided to be more optimistic and more generous. Colorado is beautiful and open and is wild in many places. Maybe the driver of the car was one of those outdoorsy types who populate our great state. Like a hunter. With a guilty conscience.
Anyway, I was in the cocoon of the optics lab this morning, mindlessly loading strongbacks, when from the corner of my eye I saw a speck. A bug was crawling across the floor. It was a black and red bug, probably some kind of beetle. It was really ugly. Well, to be fair, to its peers it might very well have been a prince. Or a princess. I couldn't tell which gender it was - there was no way I could get my eye that close to the floor.
I don't like to kill anything, so I said hi to the bug and resumed my work. The bug was something I needed to respect, because it had life. I really didn't know anything about that bug. Maybe it was searching for food for its family. Maybe it had a really hard life. Why would I ever want to kill it?
As I worked my mind wandered and eventually came back to the bug, who was still walking back and forth on the floor. It occurred to me that the bug probably had no brain to speak of. It didn't have to go to work. It didn't have to worry about putting its kids through school. It probably didn't lie awake at night fretting about being eaten by a bird. Really, it most likely had a very easy life.
The bug didn't seem to want to leave the area, and it was becoming distracting, so I got up and squished it.
Easy, but short.
5 comments:
OMG! This is the same guy who makes me carry (living) spiders out the front door of our CO home???
OMG Is this the same person that sent me a humane bug vacuum from Hammacher Schlemmer for Christmas? So I could take time from meditation to remove bugs from Mom's room???? Geeesh
OMG! Whenever you defecate or scratch your nose, you're killing oodles of both human and bacterial cells. Is that ethically any different than squashing a bug? Do you watch every step you take to make sure you're not sqishing something which evolution (or humanity) might make sentient someday? Where is the line? Is a line even possible?
Also, don't forget the "butterfly effect." Every bug you squish, or fail to squish could be one of the causes of a future Adolf Hitler. Would it be ethical to let that happen?
Squish on, Durf!
OMMMMMMMMMMMMG! all this talk about bugs and respecting life and you stomp the life out of a bug because all it is doing (and all it can do re you) is distracting you? I want the time back I spent reading (and then writing about) this bug nonsense.
SHAME, SHAME, SHAME!!!
If I squish a bug, it could cause a future John Boehner. If I fail to squish a bug, it could cause a future John Boehner. Since both actions are essentially equal, although admittedly not to the bug, I don't suppose ethics apply.
Post a Comment