Even honeybees make mistakes

Honeybees are beautiful and wonderful creatures. But even they make mistakes sometimes, and those mistakes turn out to be fatal. That is, they sting humans. I would guess that in most cases of a bee stinging a person, the person is not trying to harm the bee or the hive. A beekeeper may be trying to extract honey, but is not trying to destroy the hive. Often people get scared of a buzzing bee and wave their hands around, which makes the bee then sting.

Whether the bee knows it will die from stinging a human is not the issue; the point is that the bee perceives a threat when there is none. The bee attacks when it doesn't need to. The result is that the bee dies. (If they would instead attack the manufacturers of neonicotinoids, then they'd be onto something.)

There's an important lesson here. People often act just like a bee: they perceive a threat where there is none, and their attack is self-destructive. It's crucial to make sure that any perceived “threat” is actually a threat. And then we should ask ourselves whether attacking can have “blowback” that hurts us even more.

We are, today, facing several serious global threats. If we want to create a healthier culture and a healthier planet, then we need to be more thoughtful about how we expend our energy.

Dance like a bee, make honey like a bee, enjoy flowers like a bee.

But don't sting like a bee!

(with all respect for Muhammad Ali)