Tuesday, May 06, 2014

What I Hate: Stinkbugs

These guys:
They've infested our sun room.  This is a bad thing, says this page.  I am none too fond of bugs, even ones called "stinkbug," & I am especially not fond of bugs that emit an odor when smashed.

For the longest time, I just let them be.  Occasionally, one would fly at me in a particularly hateful way, but mostly we avoided each other's space.

No more.  I have started to kill them.

I am a vegan, & I get asked often about whether I eat honey or wear silk.  The answer is, not really, but I don't have the same attitude about bugs that other vegans do.  Silk is a no-brainer - it's not my style.  But if I'm going to eat honey, it'll be local honey, since I know those folks care about the bees.  Bees are important, & if there's going to be an insect I have to care about, it'll be bees, although they'll probably be extinct in my lifetime.

I grew up poor, in apartments that had cockroaches.  I killed them.  In the summer, flies would get in.  We had a fly swatter.  If I find something crawling on me, I may scream like a child, but I also will fling it off &, if I am not shivering too much, stomp on it until it's dead.

I'd be a terrible Jain, in other words.  Not as bad as someone who salivates when people talk about bacon or who'd wait in line for a KFC Double Down, but still not someone other Jains would hang around with.

Let this be a warning to the stinkbugs in my vicinity: I am no longer guardedly indifferent to you.  I am your enemy.

But please don't fly into my mouth when I'm asleep.

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