The Secret Life of Wasps

A wasp is on my mailbox as I retrieve my mail. The wasp barely moves. I get my mail and run to my house.

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I was stung by a wasp once. I was on a bus in Washington, D.C. I was riding home from my summer job. I sat down on the bus, felt the wasp in my back. I yelled.

Is everything Ok back there?

I’m fine I say.

I smash the wasp to death with a soda bottle right away. My back is stinging. I can feel it tighten. It was wrong but killing made this all real to me like never before.

Is that why we kill? To understand the meaning of it all. Richard Wright once said: must I know all that when he was asked about the meaning of everything. That has to be better than killing more wasps.

They are disappearing I read recently. I don’t mean like normal. Like an eraser to page on a New York Times crosswords puzzle. Forever removed and not even relevant.

But there is a stinger in my back. A wasp stung me through my shirt. It probably fell out. The wasp is dead. The bus driver is wondering what happened.

What was all the commotion he asks when I leave the bus? I tell him: the world is coming to an end.

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Is this true? Are wasps disappearing, and if they are, why is it so, and what does it mean? Is it climate change?Should this worry us?

First of all, wasps are very important to the world’s eco-systems and to sustainability. These are the wasps like the one that stung me in the back viciously.

They are pollinators and they are also predators according to the available literature. And if they were suddenly gone, things would get out of balance. Conditions on earth would not be as sustainable.

In an article in Tricycle Magazine, to kill a wasp was described as a “triumph of ignorance.” I am sad to say that I did kill a wasp. I was 14 years old, didn’t see the wasp. The wasp landed on my back and stung me. I reacted. I don’t agree that I was ignorant. Impulsive? Sure.

But, if wasps are dying because of climate change and we don’t heed their disappearance as a sign of something bad, that would be ignorant. Really stupid.

One more credible theory doesn’t link the decline of wasps to actual climate change but to the shift to industrial economies. Less agricultural areas, fewer areas for wasps and bees to do their daily work. There is a need to preserve green spaces in other words. Many scientists agree with this. The loss of green spaces is bad for wasps and bees. This is not life-affirming human activity. Sustainability.

So, in essence, the decline of wasps is a sign or a warning. The actions you are taking are not good. They first kill other species and then they will lead to humans.

Wasps also are not loved like bees. How many movies and documentaries have been made about bees and the importance of bees? Have you ever seen a film about wasps? Because they do eat other insects, they do not get love like yellow jackets. They are predators but that is a good thing for the earth.

Nevertheless, if you get stung by wasps, do not react like a 14 year old in severe pain. The wasp was probably just reacting to your presence. Maybe I had on cologne that day or a shirt with flowers on it?

I doubt it.

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This post was previously published on medium.com.

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