We tower above them, yet still find an odd pleasure in killing them. We tell big kids to “pick on somebody your own size” yet we step on ants.

Our lifespan is 80 years, more or less, yet we relish squishing something with a fraction of that. The worst thing a wasp can do to us, is to sting us, so we kill it in anticipation of something so simple as the threat of a sting. I have been stung many times, including once as a two year old when I was stung in the mouth after biting an apple with a wasp on it. Some time ago I realized the truth in that if you do not hurt them, they will not hurt you, and do not fear bugs really at all.

Now I practice a “Catch and Release” program at work and in my home. Basically if I am not going to eat the bug, and so far I haven’t taken to eating bugs intentionally, if we are not going to feed it to our Anole, or Chickens, the insect gets set free. At work a lot of insects, mostly grasshoppers and flies, get into the store. Flies are tricky, they move too much, but grasshoppers are an easy catch and I toss them out the door.

Occasionally a bee or wasp finds its way into the store, they usually buzz around the front window trying desperately to get out. Why should I not sympathize with them just as any other living creature stuck, confused, trying to get back to the wilderness? So, yes, I offer the bees and the wasps my finger to climb up on to.

Did you know that without bees, the human race might only last another four to five years? Did you know some wasps only live a few months? Never once have I been stung, most of the time the little insect rides my finger to the door where I release it back outside. Some times they resist, forcing me to use Rescue Plan B.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lepidophora_lepidocera.jpg

Rescue Plan B involves getting a cup or glass and putting it over the little insect friend, then sliding paper underneath the opening, careful not to pinch any feet in the process. Then the paper can be held against the cup and used to trap the insect inside while taking it to the door for release.

We should have sympathy for other living things. This is not even about being vegan (I am not) its just about having compassion. Remembering that other things want to live just as bad as us. Sometimes more, after all, there are no EMO insects.

I think of it this way, myself as a human will do more harm to the world in one month of my existence than an insect will do in its entire life. This is indisputable. I will eat more plant matter than any grasshopper, I will cause the destruction of more trees than any pine beetle, I will eat more animals than any flea. I still want to live too though…. It can even be argued that I will do more damage to the world than an insect that spreads disease to people, after all, we cannot assume that the end all, be all of the planet, relies on humans existing, it does not.

We can be sympathetic to other living things, we just have to see that we are not the center of the world.

Living totally cruelty free is impossible, but every step helps.

http://socyberty.com/lifestyle-choices/cruelty-free-living/