The Insects In Us All... Part I

It's sort of interesting to think about all of the different associations that people have with the various insects with which we coexist. For example, we have an idea that our friends the mosquitoes are inherently evil creatures, simply because they use our blood in their reproduction process. But is that really any worse than our own taking the wool off a defenseless sheep to make clothing for ourselves? The need is there, certainly. We have it in mind that we "need" to have clothes, and maybe we do. But instead of making the majority of our clothing (and blankets, rugs, etc) from fabrics made of dead material that wouldn't affect any other living being, we depend on the protective coverings of other creatures. This doesn't hurt them directly, in most cases, except for some discomfort on the part of a cold sheep, but then, the mosquito bite doesn't really do much damage to humans, either. The mild anti-coagulant that mosquitoes use is not meant to irritate the skin: merely to stop the blood from clotting so that the poor mosquito won't get stuck. In a similar way, our shearing of the sheep isn't supposed to hurt the sheep, but irritation because of restraints and minor nicks from sharp shears are certainly not uncommon. When I say this, I'm not advocating for the disuse of wool, but questioning our widespread dismissal of mosquitoes as useless parasites. Think of them rather as codependents with humans, struggling in the same world to make use of the resources that are at their (and our) disposal.