Squash the problem

Maryssa Rodriguez, Staff Reporter

To begin the year, the newspaper staff came in contact with a tarantula climbing the window outside their classroom. Students began debating whether to leave the spider to die outside or to collect the creature, and put it out of harm’s way. 

Because of the many problems insects can cause humans and their environment, people should have the right to squish any bug that enters their area.

Among the many reasons to squish a spider or insect, these pests are known to exist in large numbers and reproduce rapidly. This large number of bugs can easily lead an infestation of massive proportions if left to live on their own. For example, the fly, a massively disliked animal, tends to be unafraid of humans and makes a lot of noise. This creature reproduces rapidly and causes a disturbance in a person’s home. They are not easily removed, however, and require more brute force such as fly traps and fly swatters.

People should have the right to squish any bug that enters their area.

— Maryssa Rodriguez, 11

In addition to the increase of population, the large number of insects creates a higher chance of contracting a disease. Because of their evolution, bugs tend to thrive in gross and unclean areas. Unlike humans who shower themselves after entering a dirty environment, arachnids and insects carry those germs with them onto a human’s food, beds and other belongings.

One bug most commonly known to ruin people’s health and happiness is the mosquito. This pest carries malaria, a deadly disease transferred through the feeding of mosquitoes because the insects’s dietary habits typically limited to the blood of mammals.

An essential part of a human’s growth is their family. It drives people’s personality and how they act around others. Bugs, however, do not have this mindset. While the creatures can co-exist in the same habitat with its siblings, none of them can experience emotions and familial love the same way humans do. Arachnids and insects are creatures without the same innate human thoughts and dreams. While this does not make them lesser beings on an earthly plane, as they are necessary in some situations, squishing them should not cause any grief to humans. Unlike humans who live long lives building relationships and striving towards a goal, pests such as these tend to live short lives and have a single mindset of survival.

Bugs, however, provide no usefulness for people outside of their natural environment.

— Maryssa Rodriguez, 11

Although bugs may be alive, these creatures hold no more standing in our minds compared to the animals we kill on a daily basis such as cows and pigs. Furry friends we consider family pets in certain situations also live to provide emotional nourishment to humans and their children. Bugs, however, provide no usefulness for people outside of their natural environment.

To preserve the lives of the bugs simply surviving in their own environment, humans could use a spray that repels the creatures. This will prevent the pests from getting near a person without the need to kill them for crawling on your skin. 

Overall, if a bug were to enter a household, it would be unnecessary and troublesome without any added bonuses which come along with the creatures. Therefore, any person who wishes to remove the pest from their home should use the opportunity to squish it and be done with it.