A Bug's Life
If you see a bug crawling across the floor, what’s your first instinct? Some of us may run straight to our least favorite pair of shoes to obliterate the problem. Other people will ignore it or even scoop it up and place it outside. So who’s in the right here? Do bugs feel pain, and if so, are we stupid to feel sympathy towards them? Lately instead of doing Calc homework, I’ve been pondering these questions of bug ethics. I’m not trying to make a mountain out of an anthill, but I need answers.
It turns out that bugs do have a nervous system, but a highly simplified version of ours. Their brains aren’t complex enough to connect pain with an emotional response. They also don’t show signs of injury like we do. For example, caterpillars have been known to carry on eating even while being consumed by parasites, chomping on a little leaf right until death. Granted, I also plan on taking my last breath through a mouthful of pasta, but there’s a clear difference here. Human pain is a learning experience. If we touch a hot stove once, we won’t do it again. But a spider may step into a puddle, start suffocating, and just keep on truckin’ until it drowns.
In conclusion, insects are pretty stupid, and my research seems to show that their pain is almost irrelevant. Is this a free pass to whip our magnifying glasses out and start torching bugs without a twinge of guilt? In my opinion, not necessarily. Sure, flies only live around 25 days before biting the dust naturally, so swatting one won’t cut its glory days too much shorter. And stepping on a few ants won’t make a dent in the 321,035,624,829,901,000 alive on the planet right now. Even so, I cringe when I see kids ripping wings off moths or going out of their way to bike over worms. A line must be drawn. If insects decide to come indoors, annoy me, or bite me, I won’t hesitate to finish the pest off quickly and quietly. But if they don’t bug me, I won’t bug them. As insignificant (insect-nificant?) as these crawlers may seem, God created them for a reason. It’s hard to appreciate mosquitos when they’re sucking you dry, but even small life is necessary towards keeping things in balance. So mind your own business when you can, and maybe they’ll return the favor. Just maybe.