The Brave Bees

Bzz Bzz. I’ve never really cared for you bees too much. Hell, I didn’t know much about you all. Even thought you were sort of pest-like. But I now have a great respect for you all. And a great pity as well. I dislike that you're in the world as you. I know I don't have enough words to express how I feel for your exploitation but I want to show my gratitude to you. I'll take you on a journey describing my interaction with your being and one of my first reactions towards learning about your lifestyle.

Wow! Bees are interesting flying, furry insects help us humans survive and feed their young with their honey. The culture and the creations you make are interesting; honey and bees wax cure things up to sore throats and eczema. I used to suffer from eczema so that was interesting to find out. I discovered that they make a basketball shaped come and take turns going in the middle of it to get warm. They alert each other of a food resource with their special dances and vote democratically. I wish I were a bee. Well, not now...but when things we going better for you all. You care for your sick, share, focus on the sustainability of your food and maximizing it, ect. You all just live together and there's no hyper-individualism.

Getting back to a graver reality, we've helped kill of your species by using neonicotinoid pesticides. You may get dizzy, forget where you are and die alone sometimes because you drifted away from your group because of the effects of toxin on you. It's harsh. Also, your ability to reproduce with a potential mate is negatively affected. These toxins affect your immune system and make you vulnerable to parasites taking over your body and liquefying you. I discovered that in 2013, the United States used around 95% of these toxins on corn, canola, fruit and vegetable products. By pollinating plants, you're helping them to make seeds and continue existing. You all have helped our existence, economy and aided our quality of life. You've helped us eat around a 1/3 of the food on our plates and we repay you with you this-- giving you convulsions, paralysis or spreading it to your hive. You all have so much weight on your wings. Mono-culture is hurting you; it's leaving you with less nutritional diversity leading to deficiencies. I'm sorry we're so greedy. There's a big cut to be saved money, enabling us to not care about your choice to eat what you want and autonomy. But, it's profit! Maybe I'm too idealistic but it seems like there's no ethical consumption when the dollars become greater than life. It's been proven that "planting in-demand mono-culture crops like soybeans can save on labor costs and bring in more money to farmers" but it leads to "a large portion of soil erosion...[and] increase fertilizer use and pesticide use". We DON'T care about you! Money over life. Money over what's right. We're repeated benefits from your labor but your greedy tongues want more to divulge into. We are wicked.

You taught me, indirectly, that us humans can be cruel. But we have a great potential to do better than we are, especially in the USA. About our meat industry enables the crushing of male baby chicks because they aren't valuable. Also, farmers are allowed to drown their animals and claim insurance and STILL get to sell their meat for money. Cows were forcibly impregnated and some of their uterus's became too big to stand. It's horrible. About our healthcare, some people resist going to the hospital because they're worried about going in debt. Why don't we care about each other and provide basic care? In Canada, people don't have to worry about going bankrupt for getting the coverage they need.

Despite all of this, I don't just want to remember your pain but your value. The caring, collectivist society where beings can ALL coexist. They live democratically and are free from any injustice hierarchies; they know all of their work is important despite doing different things, being in different physical conditions, ect. You all highlight something beautiful in society: interdependence. Being an independent being while also knowing that having each other's best interest at heart is going to be the best in the long-term. Your lives serve an important purpose to everyone. I even read that you have a strong devotion to die for your colonies. That's solidarity right there. And a moral one if we think farther. What type of world do we want to live in? I mean, there's enough resources to go around, to not greed it but evenly spread it throughout people. But in the human world, people are starving because the system we have here values hoarding than helping. They consider healthcare a right and not a luxury.

Thank you for helping me develop my morals more. Thank you for proving that we can have a better world. Thank you for existing. I really can't repay you for what you'd done but I can help spread awareness about it. You don't deserve to suffer and you've helped so many people, plants, food, and more. I respect the grind that you all do together, despite being in little bodies, trying to get through life and helped so many beings. The fact that "the worker bees are literally working as hard as they can to gather as much pollen for the hive as possible" since they only have around 6-8 weeks to live in admirable. Working towards a egalitarian cause can help fulfill that intrinsic meaning to our lives because of helping. And you all are doing it. Us humans at most can repay you by trying to keep your habitat nice and give the biodiversity you deserve! All in all, life is more than profit, we cannot forfeit our fellow humans, nor you, for our gain. Thank you for your kindness. Looking outside of ourselves is one of the only ways we'll blossom and develop. There's only one "I" and many different people to hear.