Plant/animal life = significance humans give human life.

I've been wanting to publish a new post but I scrapped every attempt that I wrote in the last few days. I finally landed on this today morning!

Few days back...

my college put us to “community service” asking us to de-weed this small area behind the college building which is always over-grown with grass and weeds, except for a single foot trodden path. After the initial complaints and grumbling, we set to work, our hands reaching out to the plants and yanking them mercilessly out of the damp mud.

There was confusion in insect world as the tiny beings woke up to the unpleasant late morning. What was happening to their home? What monster was making the green cover disappear?  Even though it was just weeds, we felt guilty de-rooting the plants. Some of us were careful to completely pull the root out and not leave a painful snapped steam.

And the insects! Insects of all kinds were fluttering around; crickets and grasshoppers jumped about and some even launched themselves at us. When we found a fascinating looking creature, we gathered around, observed, and finally let them go off into the “wild”. (No, we did not feed them)

At the end of this sweaty, slightly unlikable yet not one to forget session many of us were in consensus about

Plant/insect life = the significance humans give human life

We didn’t see big animals, no exotic birds or creatures, just the normal yet variety of bugs and butterflies living in the backyard. We were all fascinated nonetheless. We saw colors in the tiny hidden weed flowers, nature’s delicate work in the stance of a slender grasshopper, family in a group of caterpillars, the amazing co-habitation of plant/insect life.

We, human beings, put ourselves on top of the food chain and treat ourselves with some special reverence. Looking at those insects, which really weren’t doing anything much like building the Taj Mahal or landing on moon, I realized that reverence is undeserving. We wouldn’t be on top of the food chain if these insects hadn’t made way for us. In a weird twisted way (even when I will continue killing mosquitoes or spiders and run away from big lizards) I’m grateful to them for existing. They are ugly but very beautiful.