We had an uninvited guest in our living room recently. A dragonfly had somehow wandered into our house, resting itself on the metal rope dangling down from our ceiling fan/lights.
Cheng Kai was truly "hyper-excited" - wanted me to catch the dragonfly, or perhaps tied some string around its tail, as I had done it in my early childhood days.
I once told him that I used to catch dragonflies in the open field opposite my parents' house during primary school days. I would hold it by its wings, and then tie a string around its tail. The dragonfly would then be "let loose", with the string hooked around my index finger. It felt like I was flying a kite!
Then, CK asked me a question: "What did I do to the string that was tied to the dragonfly eventually?" I was stumped momentarily. I didn't think I had untied the string and removed it from the dragonfly at the end of the day. The poor dragonfly probably flew off with it! Come to think of it, it was quite a saddistic thing to do then! Well, it was 40 years ago....
Can relate so much. I feel horrible now. Googled this to see if i'm not the only one. What's worse, sometimes i ripped off a quarter of their wings so they couldnt fly n become my pet instead. Idk why i was so cruel back then. ��
ReplyDeleteI did the same thing and didn't think much of it. Pretty gruesome thinking about it now! :( Looking back, I wonder why I didn't feel bad. I am the average person who cannot bear to see a cat suffer and yet I did those terrible things to dragonflies and sometimes ants! I feel bad for the many dragonflies I murdered and tortured unknowingly back then. I think this happened because as kids, we were not taught to empathise with invertebrates. Unfortunately, there is an unspoken hierarchy of sentient beings and insects just come at the very bottom. We also caught fireflies and trapped them in a jar just to enjoy their light for a couple of hours ... ... . It just goes to show how we bring up our children is so important. Love all creatures big and small ... . Insects feel pain too ... .
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