11/19/2024
A story of beauty of a different kind.
My dad keeps bees. Today, when I visited his house, he showed me the honey he had collected from the hives. He opened the lid of a five-gallon bucket filled with honey, and on top, there were three small bees struggling. They were covered in sticky honey and were close to drowning. I asked if we could help them, but he said they likely wouldn't survive—casualties of honey collection, he supposed.
I asked again if we could at least get them out and put them out of their misery quickly. After all, he was the one who taught me to end the suffering of animals or insects when necessary. He finally agreed, scooping the bees out of the bucket and placing them in an empty yogurt container. We set the container outside.
Since he had disturbed the hive during the honey collection, there were bees flying everywhere. We placed the three struggling bees in the container on a bench and left them. A little while later, my dad called me outside to see what was happening. The three bees were now surrounded by other bees—their sisters—who were diligently cleaning them off, removing the sticky honey from their bodies. We checked back a short time later and found only one bee left in the container, still being tended to by her sisters.
By the time I was ready to leave, we checked one last time. All three bees had been cleaned enough to fly away, and the container was empty.
Those three bees survived because they were surrounded by family and friends who refused to give up on them. Their sisters worked tirelessly, determined to help until the last bee was free.
Bee sisters. Bee friends. Bee teammates.
We could all learn something from these bees:
Be kind, always."
