My Spider Story


I am a very curious person.

I like to sometimes sit and observe what may be considered to most other people as mundane and time-wasting things.

I think it is what may seem mundane, or not as important to others, where we may actually learn about the world, ourselves and so much more.

There is a small corner in our home where spiders always seem to make their spiderweb.

Growing up, my initial reaction to seeing a spider in the home was to kill it.

Since then I think I've I learned a bit more about the world around me, realizing that even the smallest of creatures play a significant role in the greater scheme of things.

All of creation has a purpose, even the things we may currently detest, dislike or fear.

I sometimes gather the spiders and release them out the window or on some plant life outside our front door.

Other times, aside from removing them from the home, I take a moment and observe.

Not all spiders have been created equal.

Some spiders can cause great harm, even death, if they were to bite a person.

The spiders I allow to reside are not the kind that pose a threat to myself or my wife.

Recently during a moment of observation, I saw something remarkable and repeated.

On a previous occasion, I noticed a gnat fly near the web and touch a portion of the near-invisible web, causing the spider to quickly make its way towards the disturbance.

The gnat was able to release itself and landed on the adjacent wall, but still very near the spiderweb.

I expected the gnat to attempt flight, but instead it crawled quite a distant until it was out of harm's way.

I was quite surprised at this, wondering if the gnat understood the danger it had narrowly escaped and somehow chose to crawl instead fly.

Maybe a week or two afterwards, looking again at this particular corner and unsure if it was the same spider, I saw the same activity from a gnat.

Once again, a gnat had come near the spiderweb and became momentarily stuck, stirring a fraction of a second and becoming released.

The spider once again quickly moved, but was too late.

And once again, the gnat landed on the wall and decided to crawl away instead of fly away.

Is it possible the gnat knows exactly what it had escaped from and thus decided to cautiously crawl instead of risk flying into the web again?

I am not a person to have an entire echo system living in my home, but we as humans are a part of the greater echo system.

The occasional housefly, or gnat, does get on my nerve when they are found in my domain.

I'm not a fan of spiders, nor consider them a pet, but I do see their useful purpose; gnat and fly remover.

Do we not also see, from the grand variety of creatures all around us, both seen and unseen, their specific and collectively useful roles in life?

We can read somewhere asking mankind to consider the ant.

We can also consider the spider, the gnat, and the plethora of life all around us and learn from them.

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