sting

The wasp

When I was four years old I was in the playground across from our home, having a good time with my friends. All of a sudden a wasp found my bare arm the perfect resting place. I froze. All my friends told me to keep still. Yes, I knew that when I wouldn’t move the wasp would leave me alone.

Sting

I look at the little insect. He looks at me. His eyes are mean. He scares me. I’m afraid to move a muscle and stand frozen. He stings me anyway. Crying my eyes out I run home. My mom takes the stinger and sucks the poison out and gives me a kiss. Nothing helps. My heart is broken. No, the burn from the sting wasn’t as bad. But my expectations and my trust were shattered.

Why?

Why did this wasp sting me anyway? When I did everything I was supposed to do? I never hurt him, why did it want to hurt me? That’s not how the world is supposed to work! Could it be that there are bad and good wasps in this world, like humans? Was I unfortunate enough to encountering of ‘the bad guys’?

Friend

My friend tells me about a nest with wasps next to his shed. ‘I just leave it alone’, he says. I tell him about the good and the bad wasps and how I never trust another wasp in my life, ever again. Then I tell him about my feelings when I experience the unexpected attack when I was a young kid.

Projection

‘You’re not projecting your human expectations onto our little friend, are you?’ He asks kindly. ‘This little fellow did exactly what he was supposed to do in this world: sting. You take this personally. It didn’t fly around thinking, I might just hurt that little girl today, ’cause I don’t like the sight of her.’

Huh?

‘Huh?, but..’ I try.. Though I realize all of a sudden I had this all wrong from the moment it happened. That’s exactly what I thought the wasp had been doing. I gave him my thoughts and my expectations. While my little friend did just what he was made to do and what his task is in this world. He didn’t think about it. He relied on instinct.

Consciousness

Our conscious way of thinking gets in the way sometimes. We forget about instinct. I am very relieved to now know that this little friend wasp wasn’t mad at me. He wasn’t out to hurt me. Instead he wanted to teach me a lesson. One that I finally got. It took a while, but yes, thank you for giving your life in order to let me know eventually.