When I was a kid I didn't have too many toys. So we had to find or invent games and such. Insects were a good source of fun. Particularly in pitting them against one another. I've always felt that insects were perfect micro-machines of sorts. So it wasn't very different from watching the Transformers on TV. E.g. plucking the wings off flies and throwing them into ants' nests, throwing a grasshopper at a spider's web, etc. And of course, fighting spiders. I acquired, eventually, this adult thing called 'empathy'. So I started imagining how it looks and feels like from their points of view. That, however, did not bring about any sense of remorse, guilt, or shame. On the contrary, all I felt was absurdity. It is absolutely absurd, from the insects' points of view, that this huge hairy monster comes along, captures me, and forces me to fight with my neighbours. What the fuck for? I reckon insects don't quite understand how sadistic, humans can be. And when it comes to dogs and cats or any other animal that's cute and furry, the absurdity acquires a new significance. Why is this huge hairy monster always trying to touch me? It seems unable to help its need to rub its hands all over my body. What is wrong with humans? I reckon dogs and cats don't quite understand how sadistic, and lonely, humans can be. And that, perhaps, we are sadistic, because we are lonely. |