I’ve been painting my house recently, and found myself carefully saving the insects hiding in the cracks. As I lowered a particularly rambunctious daddy long legs onto the ground, I wondered why on earth I even cared.
“What if this one has a family back home waiting?”
Where did that childish thought come from?
This looks like Mr. Ages to me
The Rats of NIMH. This film was one of my first exposures to sci-fi – escaped rats who have been genetically engineered to have intelligence. The farmer doesn’t know they are in his rose bush, or that his plow endangers the life of a sick little mouse named Timothy who can’t be moved out of his home in the field. His mother goes to the rats for help. The rats are trying to develop a society of their own, along with technology and independance from humans. But NIMH – the lab that engineered the rats – is after them, and helping Timothy may endanger their survival.
Genetic engineering intrigued me, even as a child. Now here I am writing a world full of genetic modification.
Interesting how early influences shape our lives.
So here’s a call out to Don Bluth’s adaptation of Robert C. O’Brien’s book, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh. And may many more children fall in love with sci-fi.
© Tam Linsey, 2011. All rights reserved.
Omigosh I do the same thing. I save bugs (sorry not mosquitos or carpenter ants) and other creatures. Even earthworms stranded on the sidewalk. I was influenced by Charlotte’s Web, Watership down and any Disney movie with cute, talking creatures.
I really loved that book! Thanks for taking me back.
Oh, Charlotte’s Web – haven’t thought of that in years. I draw the line at mosquitoes as well
Thanks for stopping by, Brinda!
Great post. I tend to save bugs too. Especially spiders. But I’ve been known to save wasps and bees too. They sting, but they usually mind their own business unless your business impinges on their survival, and all they have is their sting. I go out of my way to not step on ants, but my thinking is…to something great and powerful out there, I might be like an ant. So to Whatever is out there, may he be a Gentle Being who notices my attempts at kindness and not step on me either.
Amen, Veronica! We had to take down a yellow jacket nest while painting and felt bad because it was a very placid nest. We didn’t even notice it was there until my head was three feet away. And I’m allergic, so it could have been horrible.