The hornets’ nest

It began with something insignificant and tiny.

Fifteen cat shelters, made from plastic storage containers, were sent to the farm to be stored for the summer. The containers sat in open air. One of them had been chosen by a few hornets for their new home, the caretaker informed me when he got stung the first time. He called me again when another helper got stung. He wanted the nest destroyed. I took my usual view of coexistence. I told him, even thinking about such an option was forbidden. I advised all the workers to stay away from where the nest was and not to disturb the hornets who had an equal right to exist.

Time passed. I waited patiently. I could not move my rescued dogs and cats to the farm as I had planned, hence they stayed in restricted areas which made my work challenging. I decided to go and inspect the situation personally. In the farm kitchen I found a hornet, which I presumed was trapped inside. I managed to help it exit. I stood there in a self-congratulatory mood and began narrating the wonders of coexistence to my support staff. I shared the subliminal link I had developed with the hornet, who I was sure would spread the word about my kindness within the entire hornets’ community. Right then the caretaker told me to look up the jacaranda tree where I was standing and feeling elated about the success of coexistence.

A huge clay oven shaped thing was hanging from one of the branches. I froze in awe. I appreciated the beauty of nature, the engineering and creative skills the hornets were endowed with. Their ability and intelligence to construct a structure out of their saliva and chewed wood fibers converting it to a paper-like pulp, and build it layer by layer into a papier-mâché nest was outstanding.

My sense of wonder and awe did not last long and embarrassingly enough and soon enough a sense of raw fear engulfed me. Despite being a champion of coexistence, I shuddered with fright and swiftly exited that place. My sense of self-preservation had taken over. Of course, even in my imagination I did not want that hornets’ nest to fall on me. I did not want to get stung.

The caretaker once again repeated his plea and advised me to get rid of it. Since all ways involved death of the hornets, I dismissed them as undoable. How could I kill a living being? This atrocity could not be committed on my watch. I felt swelled up with moral pride for taking up a stand for the hornets yet once again. I read up on hornets and was happy to discover that they vacate their nest in winter and do not come back to live in it again. It was the best choice for me. I could get rid of the nest once it was uninhabited and move my rescues to the farm as planned.

As time passed and months progressed, the information about the hornets coming from the caretaker remained consistent. They were not going anywhere. I had to stay away from the farm and keep my workers away as I did not want them stung. I contacted professional help. They knew about the lifecycles, about the eggs, the pupa, the larvae, the queen. Long story short, I have not been able to go to the farm and if I want to, I must take the abhorrent decision of eliminating the hornets’ nest once and for all, no matter how rotten I feel.

I could not help comparing my personal situation with what is happening in Pakistan today. This country has witnessed horrendous terrorist attacks in the past two decades. This country has lost innocent children, young officers from the security forces, countless soldiers. The terrorists have created grieving mothers, widows and orphans and do not allow the areas they live in to develop.  The situation of any State becomes exactly like mine, where a decision must be taken whether to allow a hornet’s nest to grow in a haven because its occupants want to exist, or eliminate it, because the State and the citizens want to exist peacefully.

Today, I stand humbled. Coexistence is my core principle, but it cannot be my route to suicide. I reasoned with myself. I do get cockroaches eliminated when they infest the gutters. I do endorse regular dengue prevention sprays that kill mosquitoes, who also get electrocuted in my home where every pop gives me a reassurance that I protected myself. Here is my new, over the time, organically developed, neo-humane view of coexistence.

When the choice is between a hornets’ nest and protecting the peaceful humans who work at my farm to earn their living, when it’s time to protect the dogs and cats I rescued with the vow to take care of them, when it’s time to make a choice between them and the hornets – I will betray the hornets. Every time!