“Oh why would you swat them, the poor
things , forever
wringing their skinny hands”
Kobayashi Issa
I may lift them out of the animals water bucket, set them on the fence post to dry out and fly away, but I never hesitated to kill a fly in the house.
Until I read this quote by Issa.
Now I think twice before swatting a fly. It comes down to how annoying they are.
I always try to let them out a window. It is, usually, what the ones I encounter are trying to achieve. Then it’s up to nature.
It is Amy, and sometimes it’s very frustrating trying to get them out of the house. Sometimes too frustrating. They especially like our kitchen window which is old and doesn’t open, which makes it even harder. It’s when they start going on the counters and on the food that I lose my empathy.
When I lived in Florida years ago for about a minute and a half, I bought a “tool” called a Bug Buster. It runs on a 9v battery. I bought an extra one to give a neighbor whose young kids were excited to have it.
It was very handy as it sucked up a bug without killing it. Then you could deposit it outside to continue on with whatever its job was. I still have and use it here in NC. Don’t know if it is still made but I’m guessing it or something similar is sold somewhere.
I love that Karen! What a great idea. I’ve been known to vacuum up the flies that hatch in the windows of our old farm house in the spring (at time they just about cover the widows) but I love the Bug Buster.
If a short verse can teach us to spare a fly, it begs a much larger question: why does our empathy stop at the dinner plate?
When we look closely at what reaches our tables, it becomes clear that true compassion can’t be partitioned.
It has to belong to every living soul.
Once your eyes are opened to their suffering, it’s impossible to look at a meal the same way.
I don’t judge people for their choices about what or who to eat Kathryn.
It’s not about personal judgment, Maria—it’s about the victims. When a choice involves taking a life and causing unnecessary suffering, it ceases to be just a personal preference. Just like Issa saw the value in a fly’s tiny life, every sentient animal deserves that same basic mercy and freedom from harm
Well, I guess we disagree Kathryn.