Why I Don’t Kill Insects
Bug Lives Matter
My daughter has begged me not to write this story. She says I’ll embarrass myself and readers will think I’m nuts.
But I must do this — if only for the bugs.
If a big fat fly is buzzing around my home, I don’t grab my tennis racket, whack it and sweep up the remains. I wait until the insect lands, kneel beside it and stick out my finger.
This part will surprise most people. The fly will not fly away. Most times, the bug will crawl onto my finger and sit there as I walk it outside. Only then will it fly away.
Likewise, if I find a spider in my house — even big scary hairy ones — I grab a glass. If you attempt to cover a spider with a glass, it won’t scurry off. It will freeze. You can then slip paper between the glass and surface and deposit the spider outside.
Just this morning, I found a tiny spider, no bigger than a pepper flake, in my sink. I put out my finger and it climbed aboard. I walked outside and let it crawl onto a leaf.
My family calls me the Insect Whisperer. They say it like a joke but I think it’s real.
It’s not unusual for ladybugs to land on me, or butterflies or moths.
The first time I got up on a single slalom waterski, a dragonfly was perched on my…
