Let's Hear It For The Wasps

I've been pondering over a lengthy treatise I recently saw in an issue of the Saturna Sunset Scribbler, a community publication on Saturna Island in the Georgia Straits off Vancouver, B.C., entitled Message from the Bees and Gaia, by D. Wood & P. Lewis. What particularly annoys me, is the shabby treatment wasps receive in this article. I thought I'd better take a look at these oft-maligned creatures, which "represent the illusion of selfishness or those who serve the lower self," as the writers would have us believe.

What is the this "lower self?" The urge to survive? I see nothing wrong with the will to live. What's illusionary about that? I guess in some quarters the desire to survive is looked at as being selfish. So be it. I am selfish. Without that desire, we wouldn't exist as a species. If you have the time or inclination, read Richard Dawkins' The Selfish Gene. This book debunks some of the favorite illusions of amateur social biologists about the evolution of behavioral altruism, among other things, in the context of the genetical theory of natural selection.

True, wasps do not produce honey, but anyone who has ever closely examined one of their nests, can only be amazed by the intricate beauty and utter efficiency of its design. Wasps are beneficial to us and our environment. They are one of the major natural scavengers. They easily eat their weight in flies, caterpillars and other insect pests found in our gardens, as well as devouring any and all carrion littering the ground. I've watched them dissect a piece of smoked salmon on my deck and I was fascinated to see that they cut their food in a straight line and carry off perfectly square pieces. What's that all about? Some lay their eggs in the bodies of those white grubs that destroy our lawns and those of the tent caterpillars that periodically devastate our trees, some even pollinate plants and crops.

Wasps will sting and repeatedly, if they feel threatened. That's called self-defense. But to say, "the wasp is caught in its own illusion and cannot help but sting even those who come to free it," is claptrap. Free them from what? Their illusion? How presumptuous of us. Haven't we been taught that all living beings fulfill a role in the greater scheme of things? All but wasps, ticks, horseflies or head lice? Should we also exclude Southern Baptists, Shiites or paleontologists? Let's get a life here.

Nothing in life is totally black and white. There are always nuances. Let's give the wasps the credit that is due them as one of nature's creatures that fulfills a purpose in real life. Just don't get too neighborly with them. Like most wild creatures, they are always hungry.