Dear Boo and Bubble,
Geez…it’s been almost two months since I last wrote to
you! I’m not feeling too guilty because part of that time we’ve been together—especially
with Boo on our big adventure in Alaska. However, I must admit some of it has
to do with the lack of a very important ingredient when it comes to writing…inspiration.
Inspiration has many quirky characteristics, including
dormancy which I find to be the most aggravating and the one I’ve wallowed
around in for a while. Somehow, though, it always seems to make amends with the
delightful aspect of serendipity…sending something totally unexpected my way
that I’m compelled to share with you.
As Captain and I drove down the mountain this morning
to have breakfast at Hickerman’s Café, serendipity struck in the form of a
grasshopper clinging to the windshield of our car. With every turn in the road
and acceleration of speed, he maneuvered his tiny legs into a position that
enabled him to stay secure…very much like a surfer shifting back and forth on a
board to counter the force of a wave. I was amazed at his agility and, when we
came to a stoplight and he decided to continue on with us, became convinced that
he was enjoying the ride.
It took me back to some fifty years ago when I was in
college and Great Grandaddy Schaefer took me to see a movie entitled The
Hellstrom Chronicle. Using the format of a documentary, the producers explored
the theory that insects—in spite of their size—are actually the mightiest of
all creatures to roam the earth. Even though humans can squish a bug at will, we
are no competition when feats of strength are determined relatively speaking. One
of the examples used to prove the premise was that of a grasshopper riding on
the windshield of a car without loss of life or limb, the physical equivalent
of a human holding onto the wing of a jetliner flying through the air. Not
going to happen!
Having made the point that insects populated the earth
billions of years before humans existed, the movie proffered the rather dire
prediction that they would still be here billions of years after our mostly
self-inflicted demise…that, in fact, we are powerless to change this dynamic
regardless of our overwhelming physical prowess. To underscore this conclusion,
the final scene showed a battalion of Army Ants making its way across a vast
expanse, swarming over and killing everything (including cattle and horses) in
its path, leaving nothing but carcasses in their wake. Having witnessed the
scene, I can tell you the prospect was unsettling.
The fact of the matter is, we humans don’t respect or
appreciate the importance of our tiny bug friends in the broader scheme of
things. We see ourselves as the alpha and omega of creation…the top of the heap…the
king of the hill…and assume that all of nature should bend to our will because,
after all, we are…well…humans with the superiority of the brain. Which has me
wondering sometimes, if that is true, why are we acting so stupidly when it
comes to the environment? Do we truly believe that there was no party until we
arrived? And that the survival of everything depends on our survival?
I think we need to humble ourselves a little bit and
come to grips with the fact that, put down to size, we aren’t quite as powerful
as we think we are. We’re just bullies.
Perhaps E.O. Wilson said it best when he posited, “If
all mankind were to disappear, the world would regenerate back to the rich
state of equilibrium that existed ten thousand years ago. If insects, were to
vanish, the environment would collapse into chaos.”
