You know what this is. It’s got black and yellow stripes, a furry body, transparent wings, two big eyes, six hairy legs, and everyone’s favorite: a big stinger. It’s a bee, and bees are wonderful things.
I remember a long time ago, when I was just a boy, I lived at a camp in the woods. We didn’t have honeybees. Instead, we had a lot of bumblebees, like this one. They are much bigger and fatter, and even cuter, than honeybees. They just aren’t good for getting honey. If you saw one for the first time, you’d think it was a miracle that they could fly with those tiny little wings.
Anyways, I was running around in a field, when I saw one of those big, fat, clumsy bumblebees flying from flower to flower. The thought of his stinger crossed my mind, and so without hesitation I stomped on him just as soon as he landed on the next flower. I immediately felt guilty.
Bees are generally harmless. They spend the majority of their lives working hard and dedicating all of their time to gathering tiny bits of food for the colony. Have you ever heard the phrase “busy as a bee”? And all of their busyness is selfless.
Even though they are just small little insects, together they form a big colony. The colony is a powerful and resilient unit. By the work of hundreds of tiny bees, a colony can grow and thrive. Every single bee does its job, even though every morning it leaves home could be its last.
Though we fear bees for their stings, they actually bring many benefits to us. Everyone knows they make honey, but did you know we need them for our daily food? Bees help pollenate the flowers that give us apples, pears, peaches, cherries, and so many more! Their hard work has positive effects on everyone around them.
We can learn a lot from bees. Diligence. Bees work hard until they die. They don’t take vacations because their colony depends on it. I’m not saying that we should work ourselves to death, but we can remember the bee’s diligence when we are feeling lazy.
Self-sacrifice. Selfish isn’t a word in bee vocabulary. Well, of course, bees don’t speak English, but if they could, they wouldn’t use the word selfish to describe another bee. Maybe just to describe humans. As soon as bees become adults, they start to dedicate themselves to others. First, they take care of the hive, which is their home. Then, they go out into the wild to gather food. This is dangerous, it’s where most bees die, and if bees were selfish, they wouldn’t do this. But they love others more than themselves. They sacrifice themselves for others.
Unintrusive. This isn’t a common word, maybe because it isn’t a common characteristic. Ants are well known for this. They are hardworking, but they are thieves. They come into our houses and steal our food! They intrude. They meddle in our business. They are intrusive. We all like to be involved in other people’s business, too. We intrude. We are intrusive. Many of us say, “Mind your own beeswax,” when someone intrudes into our personal business, but this is something bees don’t do. They don’t steal, they don’t eat other insects, they don’t hurt others (unless you threaten them), they just help! They help flowers and plants, which helps animals and human in turn. They mind their own business as much as they can.
What do you think about bees?