“Save the bees!” This started out as a meme junior year of high school, about the time that The Bee Movie was getting big. I jumped aboard the meme train and started saying save the bees. Everyone at school was on this bandwagon. We even had a “Bee Movie party”! All around me were people saying “save the bees!” I never knew it would stick with me after the fad died, that was what high school life was like for me, a meme got big and then it died. As it became a huge thing people began posting about the important role bees played in our society. I began to have a true love for bees and see the very need in our lives to have them. I didn't understand it, but suddenly I cared about the fluffy, yellow, flying bugs. I told all my friends about bees, I read up on how to help them, I got free flower seeds from cheerios and learned about their favorite plants. Soon I became known as the girl obsessed with bees with my friends and classmates. They sent me videos of bees and bees living with people. They told me about facts they saw about bees. They showed me blue bees, and bees attacking wasps, and bees being fed sugar water and nursed back to health. I began to do research on bees and how to help them. Bees do so many amazing things by pollinating. Approximately one-third of all the food we eat is because of bee pollination. They are the biggest pollinators on Earth and man-made hand pollination is far more time consuming than what bees can do and it would be extremely expensive to have to hire people and provide chemicals to do what bees do for free. Luckily there should not be any need for hand pollination, because there are so many little things we can do that will help the declining bee populations that help us so much. Gardens of wildflowers and herbs (which are some of the easiest plants to care for) are some of the most nutritious plants for bees. Using safer pesticides that are often cheaper and more effective will also help the cute, busy guys. Bumblebees are currently on the endangered species list and we really cannot afford to lose them. With this knowledge, I began to love this little buggers. Then this summer I read "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd (my new favorite book). Every chapter began with facts about bees and bees were very symbolic throughout the book. I saw bees in a whole new light. They symbolized love and hard workers. Bees were powerful, strong women (all worker bees and queens are female). Bees became something new, wonderful, and exciting (one might even say they are the bees’ knees). I feel as though in a way that book changed my life, it was one of those books that just makes you think and contemplate. This wonderful book helped me to become a better person who was more kind and had a more positive impact on those I came in contact with. Another thing is I have always loved honey. It has always been a comfort food for me and it has helped me so much when I am tired or feeling anxious or just need a nice pick me up. I would simply warm up some milk with honey or herbal tea with honey in it or sometimes even just eat it by the spoonful. Now I know how I get this delicious nectar and I appreciated bees even more. In Greek mythology, they talk about ambrosia (the nectar of the gods) and I am pretty sure that they are just talking about honey. I love the creatures who give this wonderful, sweet substance to me. They may have a
bit of a tough bite but remember when a bee stings you it dies. Yes, you may be in pain for a day or two but the bee sacrifices its life. In the wise words of Sue Monk Kidd “After you get stung you can’t get un-stung no matter how much you whine about it.” I cannot even be mad about bee stings (but I do agree they hurt like heck) because it hurts the bee, who is now dead, far more than it could ever hurt me. I know they are only trying to protect themselves from what they fear will harm them or their hive. I like to think of this in an almost metaphorical way, sometimes in life things hurt. Sometimes other people sting us, we do deserve the pain and anguish, but we can and should forgive that person. Sometimes these stings are a person's self-defense mechanisms. I have learned many life lessons and come up with many metaphors like this with bees. Bees have become such a big trademark for me, and they are something I will never look at the same way again. I used to be afraid of being stung by bees, they would cause me anxiety, but now I look at them with adoration. My dream is to live in a house with a big yard where I can keep bees and get natural honey while helping preserve the creatures I have come to love so very much. Bees are so mysterious and as a woman of science I would love to study them more, Sue Monk Kidd said, “Most people don’t have any idea about all the complicated life going on inside a hive. Bees have a secret life we don’t know anything about.” I loved this quote because not only is it applicable in the literal sense of us not knowing much about bees, but there is so much more. This is also so
applicable to life, you never know what is going on in the “secret lives” of those around you. These people may have complicated things at home or in their mind (their hives if you will) that you know nothing about. Having this perspective makes it so much easier for me to be less judgmental of others. I know I am diving deep here for something as shallow as bees, but I love knowing that with the right attitude literature and the world around us can teach us some amazing life lesson. Something as small as these cute bees can change someone's life. I encourage everyone to find a passion as I have with bees. I also want to challenge you to do your part to help the bees because having all of the wonderful plants and foods we have because of yellow, flying insects is the bee's knees.
P.S. The Hall of Breakfast gave me the cutest bee pictures ever.
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