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| Green and beautiful |
I guess it's just human nature to associate beauty with bigness, awe with grandeur. A thundering waterfalls. A neck-straining mountain. A cavernous cave. We went to Imugan in Nueva Ecija to see the first two but also found the beauty of God's creation in the small and miniscule.
I'm not an entomology enthusiast, just a nature lover with a newfound appreciation for Yahweh's (very) small creatures. It must be because of the altitude or the forest location but out here, insects behave 'naturally'. We humans instinctively reciprocate in return, letting nature be instead of trying to be control freaks.
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| Luminous, lustrous beauty |
Oh of course, it's their turf and we're just living in it for the moment -- a thought that seems lost in the city where anything that crawls, flies, hops or buzzes is meted a sentence called fumigation or dealt with a meeting with the bug spray. Well, there are pests but there are 'friendly' insects, nevermind if they look menacing (dare imagine spiders as big as humans and you have the stuff of Hollywood monster movies).
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| Unidentified yet not unappreciated |
One lifelong attitude I've developed from my mountaineering days is the tolerance for what we cityfolks call as creepy-crawlies. Sure, spiders can be mean-looking monsters on eight legs but in reality, they play an important role in curbing the pest population. Not to forget, they can be beautiful seen up very close. Mantis and hoppers are pretty neat, too, with agile-looking bodies and angular legs. Moths are incredibly detailed, like art masterpieces. Makes you think why, as reader Jenn noted, God bothered with these mobile artworks when their lifespan barely meets the one year mark.
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| Crawly, yes, creepy, no |
The presence of these insects are also comforting, a barometer of the state of the environment. The diversity is a testament to how rich our ecology is, how gifted we are as well as a reminder of what we stand to lose if we're not careful. Priceless thoughts to ponder in a farming town.
Next in Lagal[og]: Imugan Rhapsody
