I bet when you saw the title your mind went to the internet. But I am reflecting on the ones crafted by eight legged arachnids.
One graced us with a web spanning perhaps six feet, not two inches from our dining room window. We watched her ritual of circular strands, waving those many limbs in a way that reminded me of a conductor, only instead of music coming out it was silk. She never made mention of boredom, or wishing she could automate the process. I listened carefully through the pane, so I know.
There is a story in the book True Christianity about spiders.
Ponder whether a spider that is weaving a web with utmost skill is thinking in its tiny head, "I will lay out threads in a sequence, and then add cross threads so that my web does not fall apart in a violent gust of air. At the outermost ends of the threads that run into the center I will fashion a seat for myself. There I will sense if anything comes in and will hurry to the center and quickly wrap it up and eat it."
Does the hornet think in its tiny head, "My companions and I will build a little home of thin paper. We will curve its inside walls into a labyrinth and fashion the heart of it into a gathering place with a way in and a way out so cleverly designed that no other living thing that is not part of our clan will be able to find the way to the center?"
True Christianity 335
These internal monologues never happen because animals are pre-programmed. They do not need to sign up for weaving lessons, or make any decisions about architectural design. They are perfect even before they hatch.
But our perfection is from our imperfection. People get to choose in a way that a spider never can. She does not seem to mind, but I think I would. I want to feel as if I have chosen my marriage, my mothering style, my path.
That means of course that I am more likely to make a tangled mess of things than a spider the size of a bellybutton. Never mind that my brain is approximately two skillion times bigger. So are my mistakes.
But I venture to say, although I have not interviewed many insects, my joy is too.
