don’t kill things

It’s a funny old world we live in. We have to kill things to survive. Until someone invents a totally synthetic food, made from non-organic material, then yes, the fact of life is that we have to kill things in order to live. I also believe that one day it will become apparent that even vegetables feel pain, so even the most strict vegans have little to be pleased about. So what can you do?

Well, here’s a rule I’d like you to adopt. Well, there are actually two:

1. Unless you’re going to eat it, don’t kill it.

2. Do not throw away food (freeze, use in soup, etc.)

There you have two fairly simple rules. But the first is impossible to implement. What happens if you get infested with fleas? License? Crabs? What are you going to do then? If you have any sense, you will kill them. In some parts of the world, mosquitoes carry malaria and much worse. If one falls on you, you HAVE to kill it (or potentially die yourself). But even the Dalai Lama, the Buddhist leader, says it’s okay to kill bedbugs (and Buddhism advocates not killing things). By the way, and certainly as a side note, I think it’s a great idea to get in touch with his spiritual self. Along with exploring and accepting other religions and their way of thinking. You don’t have to follow them, just understand and accept their beliefs (which is pretty hard to do when they ban bikinis!).

But back to the ‘don’t kill things’ secret. You need a degree of pragmatism to live by these two rules. But the principle is solid. Just ask yourself, “Do I have to kill him?” It’s time for a real life example. We live in an old country house and the exterior walls are not all they could be. As a result, we have a wasp nest on the roof. In fact, the nest is directly above our room and we often fall asleep to the rather terrifying sound of wasps scratching above our heads. Now of course the ‘easy’ answer would be to call an exterminator and the problem would be eradicated. but we prefer

‘let it be’. To let them be. The wasps have a right to this planet too and as long as they don’t bother us, I’ll go in peace. They will be gone once the first autumn winds blow.

Confession time: I killed a caterpillar earlier this year. Luckily I stopped at one and am now the proud owner of the holiest collard greens you have ever seen (blue tit where are you?).

I also went through a phase of not killing mosquitoes, although after the 1000th bite I did start to succumb. But please, think about the poor female mosquito for a moment. Not only does she have to survive life underwater, avoiding all kinds of creatures that see her as their favorite food, but she also has to fight surface tension, hatch, find a mate, avoid bats, which have the radar on your part. and THEN go and find some protein, in the form of you or me, to then find and be able to lay their eggs in some local pond. Without being squashed or eaten in the process. How could he put an end to that miraculous effort?

It’s the same with ants. They are absolute wonders. How the hell do they know exactly what to do? What is your role in the grand scheme of the anthill? Termites are the same. They farm, they create air conditioning units, they have an army, and the list goes on. Just amazing! The common housefly is also a marvel of biomechanical engineering and can perform maneuvers our helicopters can only dream of.

However, we kill all these creatures without a second thought. With a spray from the can. Or with a thousand gallons of pesticide. Gold with a stroke of the hand. A shake of ant dust. Look, as I’m sitting here I have a fly swatter next to me. We live in the country and in the summer the flies can get a bit overbearing. They are also particularly attracted to my computer, so they can become a nuisance. But I don’t just go and kill them. I try to scare them first. I open the window. Even give them a couple of warning taps. Most of them get the message. If they don’t, well, I’m only human. The odd one gets hit.

So what is this secret about? Well, it’s about knowing your place in the world. It’s all about ‘walking carefully’. About leaving as little trace as possible. That includes not killing things. Unless you HAVE to. Unless you’re going to eat them. That’s all.

Trust me. Once you embrace this philosophy, the world will thank you. So will future generations. Including future generations of those mosquitoes that you could have killed with a swipe of your hand. Together with those future bats, fish and frogs that will live on them.

One consequence of adopting this philosophy is that you will find waging war totally unacceptable to your new way of thinking. Having said that, if my country were to be invaded, I would be the first in line to stand a chance against the invading forces. You see, the secret of ‘not killing things’ is not black and white. There’s a lot of gray there. After all, at this stage, we have to kill to survive. It may not always be this way in the future, but for now, we must kill.

All I ask is that you THINK before you kill. Unless its survival is directly threatened, don’t kill it. Thats the secret.