Insect Politics
Have you ever heard of insect politics? Neither have I. Insects don’t have politics. They’re very brutal. No compassion, no compromise. We can’t trust the insect. I’d like to become the first insect politician.
I’m an insect who dreamt he was a man and loved it. But now the dream is over, and the insect is awake. I’m saying… I’ll hurt you if you stay.
Oh, clear acrylic box that makes sounds atop my filing cabinet! I have witnessed the devolution into desperation at my own shaky hands. I have heard the chirps lose decibels with each passing hour, wondering if slumber was the cause. Asleep by day, nocturnal creatures asleep by night.
I found a corpse in the middle of the clear acrylic box. Disguised as a body full of life, but less so in the middle where bits of it were missing. How does a cricket get sawn in half in an environment this controlled? Was this the violence of another? I wondered if this was death or injury caused by poorly measured jumps, glancing at the box every so often. The corpse kept relocating, it must have been alive.
In the afternoon, I watched the box in a meditative state, seeing how the largest cricket moved the corpse towards the rotting apple chunk. It reminded me of my CPR class: life instrumented by falsehood and some kind of hope I could not name yet. It dragged the lifeless body next to the spoiled food source, taking bites out of its thorax. After it was finished, it perched itself upon the apple, the greatest one of all, patrolling his newfound control over the only food supply left in this desert. He was the evil, the ruler of the original sin, and the box was silent ever since.
I watched him jump. From the bottom of the box. The top of the egg carton slice. Bumping against the sides as if it did not hurt, clawing at his enclosure. I contemplated giving them food and water. I imagined myself, holding a soaked sponge and a slice of banana, turning the latch. I would slide their sky towards me, open it ever so slightly, and drop their salvation inside. My cowardice, however, prevented me from doing so. These insects would die as a result of my own fear, and my own judgement against them.
If only it was death! I have caused a dictator to emerge. I have seen an ecosystem degenerate into an apocalypse. Famine, cannibalism, seizure of power and resources, greed, and evil. I am facing the personhood of crickets.
As I asked myself “why have I not put them in the freezer?” an unbelievable answer found me. Curiosity. Maybe this is why we have war – because God was too curious to put a stop to all this and decided to wait before another Ice Age. I am an insect who dreamt she was human and loved it, but now the dream is over, and the insect is awake. As innocent as my intentions are, I will keep you in a box, and hurt you if you stay.