Tip of My Iceberg

I won’t touch them, their sound is annoying, and they pretty much need to be stomped on to end their existence.

Cicadas.

Some of those bugs come out every year, and we can hear them as they make their noise during warmer weather. Others come out every thirteen to seventeen years, waiting underground to live their short and frenzied lives as they emerge.

This is their year to emerge.

We’ve been fortunate. They haven’t hit Florida as they have the midwest. Other parts of the country are experiencing them, and not all are pleased.

They’re loud and annoying.

Ward, at three, isn’t afraid or bothered by the plethora of these noisy creatures around his home. He is fascinated with them, and with great courage picks them up and plays with them. They’re his friends.

Maybe it’s his youth; possibly it’s just who he is. But those things that are new and different don’t bother him. Fear isn’t part of his thinking.

Curiosity is.

Bugs aren’t a choice. There are many species, many as annoying as cicadas. Several can be hurtful. Most just want to be left alone.

Several in my family have a huge distaste for spiders. A few are unnerved by wasps and hornets. Mosquitoes are on everybody’s most disliked list.

They exist. And we either learn to deal with them, protect ourselves from them, or learn how to exterminate them.

Too often we view people just like we perceive bugs. Annoying, unnerving, needing to protect ourselves from them.

Some we’d like to see exterminated.

The recent rise in anti-Semitism in this country, combined with how we choose to deal with any ethnicity, color, or thought pattern we don’t like, brings to mind senseless killing, ugly hatred, and uncontrolled violence because not everybody looks and acts the same.

History records how this has happened in the past with several different groups of people–those who have been unfairly judged by others because of what they believe or how they look.

We don’t get to choose who is worthy to live and who isn’t.

I love Ward’s approach. Curiosity because he’s captivated and intrigued by what he doesn’t know. A willingness to engage with the unknown without fear.

Jesus taught the value of people. In His time, lepers were seen as dirty and people refused to associate with them, would not even have them in the town limits. Samaritans were hated by many because they were seen as half-breeds, and good people shouldn’t mix with them. The tax people were Jewish but hated by their own kind because everyone felt they were in the pockets of the Romans and out to get more for themselves.

Jesus taught the need to love our neighbors as ourselves–and everyone is a neighbor. To not judge unless we ourselves want to be judged. To be willing to help others who can’t help themselves.

Giving value to others, not being afraid of what we don’t know, being intrigued with those who are different gives us a chance to learn what we don’t understand.

And discover that there is so much to appreciate.

Ward’s attitude is amazing.

Try to get to know what you don’t understand.

You may find new friends.