Throwing Stones
Yesterday, I saw my son and daughter (5 and 4 respectively) actively throwing rocks and clumps of dirt at a Daddy-Long-Leg spider that had worked his way halfway up the side of some playground equipment. The spider was pretty large — about a 4" leg span. Despite his size, he was completely harmless.
As soon as I saw what was happening, I walked over to the scene and stepped between the spider and my children before either were able to squash him with a projectile. I urged them to "put down their weapons" and take a closer look at what they were trying to kill. When they approached the spider, they became very interested in what he was like. I picked up the Daddy-Long-Leg gently and let them get a closer look, attempting to find all the parts common to all spiders and noting the complexity of his protective coloration. The children were actually amazed. My son was eager to actually hold him to get an even closer look. Although my daughter was actually afraid to hold him, she was just as amazed as my son was by the complexity of this odd little creature.
It is completely clear, in retrospect, that it was not raw fear that drove them to throw stones. It almost seems that they were naturally driven to attack. Once they were able to get a closer view and gain appreciation for the little creature, they didn't even consider harming it.
In many ways, I think we (people) never really outgrow this reaction to things we don't recognize. It's possible it's deeply rooted in our tribal nature. I'm not an expert on where it comes from at all, but it doesn't take an expert to see that the "grown-ups" have outgrown stones (now: media, hand-grenades, dirty-bombs, the list goes on), but what about our awareness???
This entry was posted on May 23, 2006 at 8:32 am and is filed under Social Ethics. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.
May 24, 2006 at 9:54 pm
I’m really impressed that you saw such an analogy from your kids! They are correct when they say: your kids teach you a lot; must be a wonderful feeling. Observation like that is what I think we *should* all gain with time. Some people call this sort of behavior “over-thinking” but I really have to disagree. I think a person gets more out of life if they can notice such subtleties and then make connections. (Me and my sister got into a row about this today…its still fresh in my mind!!!)
Also thank you for linking me to your blog
you are also on my “recommended spaces” list.
As for Davy Boy…he’s like a fly I’ve had buzzing around for a year…sometimes i like to swat him but that only happened once. I found that speaking with partial knowledge is what causes fools to rise to loud speaker podiums–I don’t want to make the same mistake of defending myself to that idiot again–but its always fun to see what he has to say. (only sometimes) Here is the article and my reply to the last time we “talked”:
https://umdrive.memphis.edu/smunshi/public/ROR%20/MUSLIM%20OR%20MUZZLE.doc?uniq=-32nvic