Tonight's rant may be inspired by three things, or not. First, my walking along my child's school pathway and seeing a row of about four dead honeybees. On the other side of this path is a flower bed of different colored blooms. The school is located on hilly land, blessed with a moderate climate and vegetation is abundant. I wondered if their deaths were part of the normal cycle of honeybee life...to suck their last blossom's nectar and then just pass out on the side. Or, if the recent almost-daily burning of grass (again by the big property developers...see March 2011 post) had anything to do with their demise. I did read somewhere that honeybees' navigation has been affected by the world...
Second...my child's current piano piece, "Honeybee" and her second visit to a farm animal and botanical ''zoo" with a honeybee section have made her wildly passionate about them. Third, and this is related to the first and second...I just swatted one inside my house today. The child found it flying against a closed window. As we were in a hurry to leave and I worried about not seeing it and it buzzing around later when we were asleep...I immediately did the deed. I apologized, actually apologized to the bee and explained my action to the child. She only echoed what I usually tell her ..."it won't harm you if you don't harm it". She was then worried it might harm me in retribution. I was worried about how it found its way inside.
Well, my child hasn't grasped the effect of "death", but her worries about retribution are not unfounded. Honeybees are probably too sweet (sorry) to do that...but the reality is, they go, humans go. It's not retribution, it's self-inflicted.
And this is the latest out there:
http://tvnz.co.nz/sunday-news/honey-bees-under-attack-5847035
