The Insect Within Us All

As I think through life and the changes we undergo, I sometimes compare the human to an insect. We undergo a transfiguration as life progresses. Our lives begin in the heat of summer. We preen, prune, gorge, and develop our being until we become a mature adult. Then, as the golden sun fades and the leaves dry up and glide to the ground, our bones grow weary and our instincts tell us to crawl into our nests and begin the great sleep.

We rush to prepare for the longest season only to begin a hibernation that lasts far too long. Our bodies waste away. Our minds are dulled. We no longer integrate ourselves with the environment natural to us. We remain cooped up in our nests, awaiting the sun and warmth for another season. Eventually, we forget our old being and become a specimen entirely focused on survival.

When the snow thaws and the sun rises yet again, our instincts speak a foreign message to us. We are to crawl out of our nests and join the world yet again. We know what the season holds. Soon we will be leaping about, joining our friends and mates and enjoying long afternoons in the comfort of their company. But we still must survive spring.

As we manage to overcome the frigid season between seasons, we crawl from our dens and find ourselves in a world too beautiful to be true. That golden sun we once thrived on shines down yet again. The warmth and wind tickle our skin. The end of the big freeze is in sight.

Yet, we do not allow ourselves to rest just yet. We find somewhere safe to watch the events surrounding us. Then the metamorphosis begins. Our skin is no longer our skin. Our bodies are no longer our own. The body that was once ours is now the belonging of a season far forgotten.

And so we begin to shed. We rid ourselves of what once held us to the past. Our memories, our lives, our selves are no longer chained to us. That old us, it is cracked from our untouched, youthful flesh, and we, determined to begin a new year free of old transgressions, crawl from our shells into a world welcoming of chance and success. The insect and the human, the self that we are, is now one as seasons change.