This is something that occurred to me a while back as i read through a fellow blogger's article on the cicada. (Actually when i say fellow blogger i mean a proper blogger who writes everyday..by that definition I'm a whim blogger - or to put it plainly, a lazy blogabog. But I'm not sure where I'm going with this except for to say that i just don't blog enough). First, a brief background on the cicada and the general concept - the cicada is this ugly scary looking bug that crawls up to the surface of the earth once every some years, start copulating and then die at the end of the day or in a few days or something (I'm not good with details)! And while their story, like many of nature's one day organisms, inspired me and gave me lessons like "live each day to the fullest" and "don't get caught up in the little things" and "life is too short" and what not, it also got me thinking about their lives and how futile and meaningless they are.....or are they?
I always wondered about this relativity of space, time and distance when in reference to tiny bugs. I'm sure we've all looked at an ant walking on a pavement and thought "man, for this ant, these tiles must be countries!" but then minutes later you see the ant walking clear across this pavement and you think "human beings cant walk across countries." So that makes me think of several things : 1) that the ratio of size to ability and performance is really messed up for us (compared to bugs) 2) maybe the tiles aren't as big as countries but maybe cities (but again its not like we people can skip across cities either and 3) why haven't ants invented cars yet (little off the thought process, i know, but if their inventing abilities are anything like their physical side, then they'd be making some sick cars!!)
But I'm digressing...
Its not the distance that I wish to talk about but really about time. Does a second feel just as long to a human being as it does to a cicada? It would be pretty fascinating if these one day creatures led full lives in the span of one day. Cos that would tell us that there is soo much that can be done with our time here.
Imagine the little grubs going to pre-school for a half hour, school for an hour, the smarter adolescent bug would go to college for another half hour. Get his first job and make manager by 10:30 am (human time). meet future Mrs. Weevilbottom by 12:00 pm at a sales conference, get married by 1:30 pm. Have about 80 kids. Find wife cheating with best fly at 3:00 pm by returning early from his sales trip. Go in for couple's counselling and discover that its time to move on by 3.15 pm. Fight and win sole custody of 80 kids by 3.30 pm. Find new girlfly friend by 3.35 pm. Think she's the one by 3:40, find out she's not and break up with her by 3:42. Miss first wife, get in touch and reconcile slowly by 4.00 p.m. Retire to country side burrows by 5.00 pm. put 80 kids through school, and subsequently 18 through college (3 have to unfortunately be checked into drug and alcohol rehab) by 6.00 pm. Have huge 85th birthday at 7.00 pm. and die of a heart attack shortly after.
Again, like so much that i talk about, i don't know where i was going with this. I guess all those cartoons and movies just make me wish that other organisms had full lives too especially since they have such short lives. Its a little vain to think that human beings are the only ones who have complex lives full of these intricate needs and wants and so many levels of existence.
Bottom line, bugs got a pretty raw deal.. they were probably outsourced to a really cheap / gambling / sadistic / lazy god during the later phases of the whole creation bit.
And to illustrate, lets looks at the fruit fly. It lies asleep in a mushy sticky bed in the hopes of being set free when someone cuts open the fruit. Now what is that??? First it has to put all its hope into the fact that someone will just happen to pick that fruit, then it has to hope that it doesn't get cut up in the process of being set free....and all so that it can fly away and die little while later???!!? I think the only lesson one can take away from this is that our lives could've been soo much worse..I mean imagine if god was in a gambling mood when he made us? hmmm that would've made writing this post a lot more challenging and my computer would be all gooey!
