This past Thursday night I was welcomed by a little creature of the night. A bat. In my bedroom.
Yes my first reaction was to scream, run out of my room and shut the door on it, but after getting help to set it free again and with a couple days of clarity and reflection I have come to realise something.
Why was it that I was so frightened by a bat entering my room? Would I have been just as startled if I was camping, sitting around a fire at night and noticing a bat flying above in the trees? No, I probably wouldn't have. The reason why, is because my bedroom is my environment and when you go camping, you have entered 'wilderness'- it is nature's territory whereas my bedroom is my, human, man-made territory. Now, without getting into an entirely different discussion about whether or not camping-sites, and wilderness in general, is man-made, let me continue.
Yes my first reaction was to scream, run out of my room and shut the door on it, but after getting help to set it free again and with a couple days of clarity and reflection I have come to realise something.
Why was it that I was so frightened by a bat entering my room? Would I have been just as startled if I was camping, sitting around a fire at night and noticing a bat flying above in the trees? No, I probably wouldn't have. The reason why, is because my bedroom is my environment and when you go camping, you have entered 'wilderness'- it is nature's territory whereas my bedroom is my, human, man-made territory. Now, without getting into an entirely different discussion about whether or not camping-sites, and wilderness in general, is man-made, let me continue.
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Humans have made their cities so controled and sectioned off from 'wilderness' that we forget that we are living in a world full of wilderness. From ladybugs and ants to squirrels, birds and yes, even bats. We forget that while we have invaded what once used to be uninhabited land (many, many years ago), we also forget that nature still exists all around us. We forget so much that when it pops up on your curtain rod and stares you in the face you get scared and run away.
This is not good. We need to learn to co-exist with these creatures. We all share the same environment and while we each may invade the other's space, humans on average do a lot more harm to nature than nature to humans. And so, we need to respect nature and forgive it for getting occasionally lost and entering our bedrooms. Yes there are sanitary reason to get the bat back outside, but there are humane ways and understanding ways. And so, the next time there is a bat in your room, remember it is part of nature and not just an intruder in your space.
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