Be kind to insects.

[Messgram]

I don't kill insects for nothing, but ants, flies, mosquitos and cockroaches I have no mercy. Honestly, you could kill millions of bugs for fun and nobody would give a shit, but if one person dies in your hands then you are automatically evil.

 

[Hiraeth Grimoire]

I feel so much pity for these poor creatures. I feel deeply sick when I harm them, it causes me to consume myself with bitter despair. A while ago I was moving rocks for a family member and I realized I was causing a 911 for the spiders who dwelled in them. I then went to the effort of trying to haphazardly move as many as I could from the ruble so that they would not be crushed. But I know many died that day due to my futile activities. This bothered me for days and I cried a lot over it. I really want to kill myself and never harm another creature again. We are all equals, there is no sense in fighting this pointless war. It is for the better that we all mutually put down the weapons and resign from the temptation to exist.

 

[AliceTheGoon]

Looks like infestation's been covered, otherwise I generally let bugs be. But if I'm on the can and a spider decides to rush me with my pants down it's getting redirected with extreme prejudice. I don't want to find it crawling inside my undies later.

Oh and flies, f those guys. If they got in the house and minded their own business that would be one thing but they seem to deliberately annoy so I'm happy to let them die stuck behind the blinds.

 

[Mashedout]

You sound like a very kind human being :)

Kind human beings don't exist. Many of you aren't grasping the big picture. You've killed how much life in order to make it to this moment? Thousands, millions? As an organism at the top of the food chain everyone here is responsible for massive amounts of suffering and death.

 

[ForeverLonely82]

I,too, show kindness to bugs, animals and anything that isn't human. They aren't out to hurt me intentionally (unlike people) so if I find one in my own I capture it and put it out side and bid it farewell. However, I live in Oklahoma and we have these certain spiders that I am afraid to handle due to their nature...and those are known as the Brown Recluse Spider. Now, thankfully they hide most of the time away from people, light or pretty much anything (why the recluse name). Taking them outside is a bit (no pun intended) of a challenge, Every time I capture one to put outside it starts darting towards my hand and I freak as I don't want to get bit, so sometimes I have to kill it and of course I feel terrible afterwards. Same with wasps, My mom is allergic (so I assume I am as well), I try VERY hard to get them to fly out side with a 95% success rate. A couple of scorpions made their way into my home just wear glove and grab them by the stinger to set them in a cup or something to release. I have saved snakes, spiders, scorpions, stink bugs, ear wigs, ants, slugs. That have been near or in my home. I don't want brownie points or a pat on the back. These things don't go out of their way to hurt me and I respect their purpose. I just want them to go find that purpose without getting harmed.

 

[LeavingEarly]

I had a roach crawl over my face when I was sleeping. I put bug killer around the inside of my house after that. I don't go out of my way to kill bugs but I cannot deal with them inside the house.

 

[Astral Storm]

I really want to kill myself and never harm another creature again. We are all equals, there is no sense in fighting this pointless war.

This is one of my reasons. I am glad that there are others too. Most people don't understand my view on this. I hate that I have to harm others in order to live. I just want to stop existing and harming others. All of this brutal cruelty and violence is pointless. It's truly horrible.

 

[Hiraeth Grimoire]

This is one of my reasons. I am glad that there are others too. Most people don't understand my view on this. I hate that I have to harm others in order to live. I just want to stop existing and harming others. All of this brutal cruelty and violence is pointless. It's truly horrible.

Totally in the same boat. I wish all of our existence could peacefully end with no more needless violence. Fuck life, fuck nature, fuck humanity, fuck it all but peace.

 

[lifeisbutadream]

Insects themselves don't seem to care whether they live or die. They behave more like cells in a body than animals. Yesterday i was walking along and the ground was covered with ants. I am comparatively the size of a mountain but the ants behaved as though they couldn't care less. If they were little humans they would have been yelling, "Flee flee! Run away run away!" But they just went about their business as the mountain - me - approached!

 

[JustSwingingTheD]

I hate flies and bees and butterflies, they come to my apartment uninvited when i'm trying to cool it down and then buzz in front of my face when i'm trying to work and concentrate. I kill them without mercy because there's not way for me to capture them and set them free outside. Ants tend to infest the places where i cook making them unhygienic, so i kill them too. Same goes for mice. Spiders just creep me out too much so i kill them for that.

Even if someone invented a trap device that allowed you to capture bugs alive and set them free outside, it would be pretty time consuming to do so, as compared to killing them. And rodents can always find their way back to their hoods, unless you like drive several kilometers before setting them free.

Animals in the nature will kill other animals if they go sniffing around their nests. How is my behaviour any different? It's just impossibly difficult not to be a mass murderer. I try to worry more about what i eat, be as meat free as "possible".

I still think that you have a point there. There is certainly a connection between this kind of behaviour and more extreme forms of violence. It's all about this line of thought "they are nothing, killing them doesn't mean anything". If you can project that to bugs and rodents, you can project it to anyone. All it takes to happen is extreme conditions, like war.

 

[Forgotten]

I'm like this as well. I feel deep sense of guilt when I accidentally step on a bug. Insects are critical for the ecosystem, and I believe their space has to be respected.

 

[whatevs]

I'm fucked! But It makes sense.

Though as I have said before, considering I've had part of the temperament and experiences of an Elliot Rodger/Ted Kaczinski, I think it's a Dharmic A+ for me to be "selfishly harmless".

What the monk said is true, but is also true that doing what you can is better than lamenting how it doesn't adjust to perfection.

It's a tough road, going from contempt and hatred to compassion.

 

[Darkover]

i kill all the bugs in sight even ladybugs they shouldn't step under my shoe

 

[Ixadavt]

Something that has always bothered me is the fact that most people dont value the life of an insect. I dont get it? Their life is just as important as an animal or a human in my opinion.

They are just trying to get by, doing their thing. And all of a sudden someone squishes them, its fucking disturbing humans can so easily take their life away like that. Like they are nothing. Just an annoyance.

Ive always tried to save every bug i find in my home by putting them outside. Or a poor beetle stuck on its back, I'll always flip them over so it can go on its way.

I can relate to flies, everyone hates them and they are annoying. But its not their fault they were born a fly. Sorry for the random vent, just a thought that was on my mind.

"People say life begins at conception; I say Life began about a billion years ago, and it's a continuous process, it just keeps rolling along."

Life is sacred? What about mosquitoes and fleas and bacteria, et cetera? It's all one Life, one Consciousness, one being.
I've always felt that whenever one thing eats another dies, otherwise is simply murder. Studies have shown that when you turn on a lawn mower, the blades of grass across the yard will tremble.

 

[Darkover]

Studies have shown that when you turn on a lawn mower, the blades of grass across the yard will tremble.

yeah from the vibration of the lawn mower not because they are alive and fearing death jesus

 

[castler]

I hate flies and bees and butterflies,

butterflies! Those are the sweetest creatures besides the caterpillar. I mean the lady bugs. I love it when a butterfly lands on my nose - shit tickles.

 

[Ixadavt]

Not a fear of death on a human's conscious level. It's a reaction to stimuli. Other plants do it as well. When you cut a tree in the forest the trees around it respond on a chemical basis. The point is, that's Life. We are all just tiny parts of the same Life. Humans are neither above or below. We're gifted (a word used loosely) with consciousness of our consciousness.

Studies have repeatedly shown us that plants will muster chemical reactions to all sorts of threats and other environmental changes. And that chemical transfers between plants communicate these changes and dangers.
I digress, I find it hard to swallow all of their sanctity of life blabber so long as all forms are not included. Why should anyone be considered more valuable than anything else; anything, tree, fish, insect, plant, single-celled organism? Each has it's own essential purpose. When ours seems only to be the manifestation, or personification, of the Consciousness. That's what humans seem to be, that's the answer to the age old philosophical question, "Why are we here?" To be the vessel in which Consciousness can be conscious of itself. Otherwise, we seem pretty worthless. We had potential, sure, but instead of nurturing Consciousness, we decided to value ego.

Now that I think of it, that fly, whose larvae help to decompose dead organic material, has more value to Earth than we do as humans. (Evidenced by what we've managed to accomplish for Her in our glorious history of existence.)

 

[Message In A Bottle]

I don't go out of my way to hurt insects. Unless they are posing a threat to me or being an overall nuisance. If flies were like spiders and just minded their own business it would be fine, but they have to buzz in your face and get in your food.

Bees are also annoying, especially yellow jackets. All you have to do is walk by their nest and they'll be out for blood. I got stung a handful of times since I didn't know they made their nest on the ground. They are lil yellow jerks.

But there's good insects and bad insects I believe. I like spiders, moths, butterflies, wooly bears, mantis, and red ladybug. I hate flies, mosquitos, bees, ants and wasps.

 

[Ligottian]

Do the Jains of India still go to great lengths to avoid killing insects?

 

[castler]

I'm the 50th post!! Kan we make it to 100? Huh huh?

 

[IanUK]

Something that has always bothered me is the fact that most people dont value the life of an insect. I dont get it? Their life is just as important as an animal or a human in my opinion.

They are just trying to get by, doing their thing. And all of a sudden someone squishes them, its fucking disturbing humans can so easily take their life away like that. Like they are nothing. Just an annoyance.

Ive always tried to save every bug i find in my home by putting them outside. Or a poor beetle stuck on its back, I'll always flip them over so it can go on its way.

I can relate to flies, everyone hates them and they are annoying. But its not their fault they were born a fly. Sorry for the random vent, just a thought that was on my mind.

Be kind to ALL non human life. My charity donations are all non human and on my death everything I have goes to animal causes but local not global or national charities which are corrupt. My plan is that as few humans as possible benefit from my time in this beautiful planet

 

[Doombox]

Interesting discussion. I'm on Team Insect. I make a distinction though between the bugs that are going about their business vs. bugs that want to attack me such as mosquitoes and ticks. You can't coexist with those things because they draw blood and carry diseases. Fingers crossed I go to my grave having never been in the same room as a scorpion or tarantula. I would probably launch myself from a second story window if one of those came in the room. Small house spiders are cool helpers, but the bigger guys scare me half to death though I will escort them outside. I've never had bedbugs but would consider them cause for all-out chemical warfare, possibly blowing up the house.

 

[dreambound]

many years ago i lived in a small cottage where there was a resident cricket, which used to start making
cricket noises at around dusk, it didn't mind music or television it would just 'sing' over the top of any other
distraction. The cottage got literally buried in a land reclamation for a timber port, & when i look at photos
of the cottage i remember the resident cricket & hope it escaped the bulldozers......

.....this thread could do with minsk's snail spoiler

 

[Neneko Izumozaki]

This is a very important topic for me.
I have a hard time understanding why all living things are not made to coexist.
Apparently, all living things are enclosed in a huge hell called earth.
We are forced to sacrifice others....
That is so sad and horrifying.

 

[castler]

Them mosquitoes can also go to *h-e double hockey sticks.* Not only annoying constantly landing on u (ugh unlike butterflies) they sting which is not nice. If a pest bothers you, it's ok to take elevated action. And most pests will annoy u even if you ignore them. Much like people eh?

 

[whatevs]

This is a very important topic for me.
I have a hard time understanding why all living things are not made to coexist.
Apparently, all living things are enclosed in a huge hell called earth.
We are forced to sacrifice others....
That is so sad and horrifying.

What if we are cells of the Hellish Organism? Most people and animals are here willingly, so they're like the cells and microorganisms that make up a body. The relationship between the world and us isn't exactly like a prison-inmate one, since we came from the will to exist of our parents and we fight to stay alive (mostly, even here, lol!).

 

[Green Destiny]

Yeah I try not to kill bugs if it's not necessary. I still remember this one time I accidentally ran over a Ladybug on my scooter as a child and 25 years later I still feel bad when I think about it.

 

[Rounded Agony]

People who choose to abstain from eating certain lifeforms but blatantly disregard the value of others are even worse. Vegetarians who squash bugs with reckless abandon, vegans who don't think vegetable life is worth a damn because it's "not like a sentient thing"...I recognize with some, like stupid hyper-aggressive wasps who literally sting just to fuck around (the drunken frat bros. of the insect world to me) it can be a kind of me-or-them situation, but I still don't enjoy it. I used to despise mosquitoes but they're just trying to feed their offspring. Like humans. Love or hate one, love or hate all.

 

[Astral Storm]

People who choose to abstain from eating certain lifeforms but blatantly disregard the value of others are even worse. Vegetarians who squash bugs with reckless abandon, vegans who don't think vegetable life is worth a damn because it's "not like a sentient thing"

What you said about them is pretty interesting. I kinda get that but they are just trying to reduce the harm they cause in the end. They cannot abstain from every harm or exploitation as there are inheritent to life. We cannot be perfect sadly.

Though personally, I understand this and it's pretty distressing. I abhor all forms of consumption which is an exploitation of something or someone. I know it's not realistic or anything but this parasitic existence is still devastating. This rule which is a rule of life is the source of these endless needs and consumption.

 

[Rounded Agony]

What you said about them is pretty interesting. I kinda get that but they are just trying to reduce the harm they cause in the end. They cannot abstain from every harm or exploitation as there are inheritent to life. We cannot be perfect sadly.

Though personally, I understand this and it's pretty distressing. I abhor all forms of consumption which is an exploitation of something or someone. I know it's not realistic or anything but this parasitic existence is still devastating. This rule which is a rule of life is the source of these endless needs and consumption.

I guess this was too implicit, but I have actually heard at least one person who called themself a vegan say that plant's lives weren't worth considering because "they don't have nervous systems", which to me was a really fucked up thing to utter. I used to have a hard time eating most anything that had been alive at one point (basically everything but all true fruit; looking at you, tomatoes, almonds and such), and to just sweep other forms of life under the rug because you don't understand the way it may suffer seemed to contrary to the point of this dietary choice. Like, popular opinion was once that animals were just these weird "machine" things that only seemed to suffer but didn't really. Don't just blindly follow science. Use your own brain, and heart, for god's sake