Murder

Forgive me reader, for I have sinned. I have taken the life of another individual. Yes, I am a murderer, a despicable, selfish killer. The other day, I was waiting for my dad to pick me up from school. Like a ruminating cow, I gazed lazily at the ground and shuffled my feet this way and that on the grainy pavement. I must've cut a comical figure, sporting a beret and a checkered green sweater complete with black Converse high-tops. As I was staring blankly at the ground, a spider trailed across the tiny crevice that separated two wedges of pavement from each other. Skittle, skittle, skittle, it frantically made its way to its unknown destination. My peripheral vision caught sight of this poor creature, and with one solid movement I squashed it flat.

I removed my foot and stared at the spider's gruesome transformation. At first I felt lightheaded for having done something that was slightly exciting. Then I was overwhelmed with guilt and remorse. I had committed murder. I had butchered an innocent living being for no good reason.

I am not overreacting. I do not believe that this situation should be taken lightly. We fail to realize that even spiders have a place in society. Why had I squished the spider? It hadn't done anything to me. Moreover, it was probably more afraid of me than I of it. Why had I squished the spider? What justifies this cruel decision?

Nothing. Nothing justifies it. All the spider did was exist within my vicinity. And I had ended its innocent existence.

I can't help but wonder what the spider must've seen before its death. A huge sole descending swiftly upon its tiny head...and then darkness. How awful.

Picture a monster movie. Does the monster give a flying shit about the humans that it destroys and devours and rips apart? Hell no. A monster is what we become when we squish insects and spiders for no good reason. Why did he squish that moth? Because it was on the bathroom wall. Did it do anything remotely detrimental to your health or well being? No. Why did she kill that beetle? Because it looked ugly and disgusting and ew ew ew.... But did it try to attack you? No.

You may argue and defend your stance on killing insects by setting examples such as "Well, mosquitoes sting and cockroaches are a nuisance". And that is exactly why we have to keep their population in check.  The activities of mosquitoes and cockroaches are detrimental to our health. They carry disease, they carry filth, and they spread it all across our homes. They spread pestilence that are capable of wiping out societies.  If these pests get out of control, who knows what will happen.  Hence forth, when one kills a mosquito or a cockroach, it is not murder. It is an execution of a dangerous convict.

Why did I squish that poor spider? There was plenty of room for both of us out in the open. It just happened to be there. Why did I kill it? Are we really that selfish? Have we not learned how to value lives after countless life lessons drilled into our brains?

I find the hypocrisy of humans fascinating. We berate the Holocaust and the genocide of Darfur, yet we do equally treacherous things to organisms that deserve a place in this world. If a giant monster were to appear and destroy everything in sight, we'd finally understand how insects and spiders view us through their eyes.

Why should we feel sorry for ourselves when disasters strike? If there was such thing as a God, would he even care that his own creations were dying by the millions? Probably not, for God is too divine beyond our comprehension and to him, we are nothing but little insects.