The Web of Life is Sticky
November 4th, 2005 by rsm
The leaves are changing here. We were worried it was going to be a short autumn with little color, but the mountains look as if they are on fire. Now that I finally have a window to stare out, was I transfixed by the reds and yellows? No. There was a life or death struggle in the corner.
A beetle found its way into a web. The inhabiting spider, 1/5 the size of the beetle, was antagonizing the prey, crawling on its back and injecting poison repeatedly as the beetle struggled with both the web and his adversary. Whenever the beetle managed to land a couple of blows on the spider, the eight-legged torturer would crawl away and wait as the beetle fought further with the webbing.
To the beetle, the efforts were his entire focus, and life had ensnared him, his time running short, much as I have been complaining lately. The spider could have found the struggle too much and left, but she didn’t. Like persecutors in life, she waited for the beetle to tire more, to pause for just a moment before resuming her attacks.
After 10 minutes, the drama slowed, the beetle overtaken by the poisons, the spider able to apply additional webs. Never once did the beetle stop struggling against the tendrils and torments threatening his own life, now measured in seconds if he gave up, possibly a chance to leave this trap to live a full life if he did not.
Friends, there is a lesson here: Smash. I am not putting up with any damned bugs in my office.