Haiku & A Story

A Child Cherished
Another Child Destroys
The Butterfly's Death

As much as I cherish nature now, as a child I had a different viewpoint. I was that kid who spit on ant hills and squashed bugs, never caring what so ever about it. It wasn't until my dad asked why I was stomping on ants that I finally understood. My dad explained to me to me that bugs weren't allowed in the house, but outside was their home and while they are just bugs, we shouldn't go around killing them just because. I've followed that creed since that day for the most part, except for earwigs. Those bastards die on sight.

Before my dad gave me this advice, however, I had already had a run-in with someone with an alternate viewpoint. There was this kid Danny down the block. Kind of a dorky kid, but his parents spoiled him and he had all the cool toys. He had a bunch of Atari games. So one day I'm hanging out at his house and he shows me something. Looked like a big bug caught in a spider web. He said his dad told me it was a caterpillar that made a cocoon and that after a while he would hatch into a butterfly. He was very happy about this. I imagine it had more to do with a bonding between him and his father than anything else, but he couldn't wait to see the butterfly emerge from the cocoon. So he goes in the house to get a toy or glass of water or something and I grab a stick and smash the cocoon. I just give it one big hit. It poured out a green pussy goo. The thing inside twitched a bit then stopped moving. When Danny came out of the house and saw the smashed caterpillar, he was devastated and started to cry. He yelled at me and ran into his house. Danny wouldn't talk to me for a few days after that.

I don't know why I smashed Danny's caterpillar. I don't remember doing it out of spite or meanness, more of something to do while I waited for Danny to come out of his house. I later apologized as I didn't like that I hurt Danny, but at that point could care less about a bug. I was probably 6 or 7 years old, so our moral compass was still developing. Between this incident and the talk my Dad gave me, I started to realize that killing stuff was wrong. It's pretty common sense actually, but when you are just a kid, you don't understand concepts like death and have to learn what they mean. It's just that I remember when I learned it. Most don't.