I must have been 3 years old when it happened. A majestic looking black bug with wings was crawling along the window calling out to be. Lacking the visceral fear that most children would have had, I picked it up assuming it wanted to play with me. Boy was I right, it bit me with a potent venom sending a shock across my regular sized body (it is adults that are really big).
I felt betrayed and disgusted, I didn’t understand how a friend could do this to me. To this day I wonder if I was anthropomorphizing the beast or if it indeed happened like I think it did.
“I learned my lesson”, that would be the most obvious way to look at it but maybe it is something more. Maybe my friend wanted to raise awareness in me about a forgotten history of species torn apart.
My relationship to majestic looking black bugs has changed forever, it served as a cautionary tale. We belong in separate world and it’s ok to admire each other from a distance.