The life of insects is so ephemeral that if I accidentally step on one, perhaps a simple “oops” will come to mind. Not that I don't care about the existence that, through my fault, vanished. It's more because I grew up hearing that insects are like toys, with people saying they don't even think or know what feelings are. Do they even know they're alive?
Some days ago, for a moment I thought I understood the mockery of a mosquito flying near my ear, and then I saw it looking at me... astonished? I could almost read the doubt in its expression, “Did she understand?”
It reached my finger and jumped onto my index finger. Usually at that moment they flee if I move my hand, but not this time. I managed to bring my hand close to my eyes to try to see better what it was doing. It seemed to be waiting for me to do something, as always, but I just watched.
The mosquito seemed to be challenging me, moving its head with that large nose, up close, looked like a deadly needle. I decided to record it with my cell phone. I managed to capture a beautiful scene of a mosquito biting my finger, before it turned red and itched.
[I will upload the video here... Remember me if I forget it!]
The next day, while looking at plants, I saw a tiny caterpillar. I didn't even know caterpillars could be so small. It measured maybe half a centimeter, and it was eating a leaf. But it was totally unconcerned by my presence. It turns out that when I flipped the leaf, it moved back to the bottom, at a speed that reminded me of a turtle. But the fact is, it wanted to stay down there, even with my interference. So, insects have free will? ...
Next week, two mosquitoes. They were flying next to my head, one on top of the other... I found the scene so bizarre that I rubbed my eyes to make sure I was awake. And I was. They remained still, hovering motionless, like hummingbirds do, but why were they one on top of the other? And how did they fly like hummingbirds? I had never seen this behavior before...
Since I thought of birds, I just saw a great kiskadee. So I switched my attention from the tiny world and looked at the big things, a tree. Up there in the middle, right at the top, a great kiskadee...
When it saw me, it turned its head to the left and moved it up and down, as if it wanted to tell me something... I was a little confused, but since it wouldn't stop, I decided to look to the left, and guess what? I found another bird, exactly in the direction the first one had indicated.
I started thinking: okay, now birds talk? That's not how I learned! But then the second bird flew away, quickly descended to a point near the wall of my house, and then flew far into the sky... then I looked at that point on the wall, and... the earring I had lost days before was exactly at that spot... No way!
At that point, I no longer had any logical explanation to think of, specially after I saw the plants doing similar things while shaking their leaves.
Are these invisible worlds right in front of us all the time and we can't see? So many beings, insects, animals, plants, that coexist amidst our worries... maybe they keep their distance because of the experience of having tried to be seen and always going unnoticed? Or they are afraid of become visible and someone come along and choose to destroy what is fragile simply because it's visible? and not because they are incapable of communicating with us...
between 0.999 and 1... the faith.
Emilico
