In David Suzuki’s essay Hidden Lessons, he talks about people who live in urban cities that loses natures sense; including myself as a city boy. Since I was born in Calgary, I’ve been exposed to man made products, city lights, houses and electricity. I haven’t encountered any insects, mice, snakes and worms at the time. Many have complimented me as, “Oh look at that cute little boy,” or, “awe isn’t he such a charmer,” and that’s what I thought a mere insect was as well.

Here is a story about myself as a child; in the summer of 2000, my family had brought me outdoor camping for the very first time. It was a very exciting, and adventurous memory of tenting, hiking, swimming, skipping, and I mustn’t forget firelighting. If you were an adventurer like myself, you would remember the vast majority of insects crawling under toes, the crunching of roaches, the buzzing of bees, and the flutter of wings all around the zone. At first insects are such tiny pets that follow you everywhere you go; Well that’s what I thought until my father had driven insane by the quantity of mosquitoes in our tent. He went wild with the swapper, raging at everything he saw; including me! Suddenly I became so curious of the fact of why my father was gasping for air in the swarm of locust was so dramatic. Soon after, I realised that bugs could crawl under skins, infecting every part of your body with venom and killing everything they target. And not just one creepy crawler could be around you, thousands are all around you, from head to toe!

If you really knew me, my biggest fear is insects, not just the big ones, but also the teeny tiny ones too! Experiencing and adapting to my father’s fear of insects and spiders, I’ve now copied that fear from my role model. From David Suzuki’s essay on Hidden Lessons, I now know that the fear of dirt, and crawlers come from older generations. As well as figuring out the hidden lesson, I will teach my children to overcome that fear that we have passed down. Perhaps the hidden lesson would not be as hidden anymore!