You know about bees. How they’re the best cross-pollinators and how their contribution to our lives is crucial and all that, right? So then you’re also aware of how our diligent bee population is suffering and about the mysterious disappearance of large numbers of honey bees that researchers call colony collapse disorder. You know all this, don’t you? What harsh realities.

So the next morning, when I opened the shutters to welcome in the late morning sun, my jaw went lax, and remorse overtook me when I saw the tiny carcass; the irrefutable yellow and black colors of a honey bee, bundled up in a small ball of residue — the spider’s midnight candlelight-dinner had been a precious bee I vowed to protect — I was shocked!

And the spider, fatter now than the one I remember befriending the evening before, sat immobilized and snoring. I couldn’t believe it; the silly spider devoured a bee while I slept. Darn, I could have saved that poor bee from being caught in that web. But I was too friendly and perhaps too lazy.

Suddenly, that spider looked like an enemy…

But really, how was I to know that Mr. Spider’s meal would be a precious worker bee? I couldn’t have. Regardless, that small situation made me feel responsible.

Yeah, the spider and the bee incident set my mind a-thinking about the transcience and preciousness of life and nature and my role in it.

My take after the fact: be kind to all living things. It’s not just about doing good but about not doing bad to all living things. I can live with that, and now I move on.

My heart aches. Over the weekend, people in my adopted country have been mourning the premature death of an up-and-coming young lady who got caught up in a web of a different kind. Hana Kimura, 22 years of age, found her life-calling in pro-wrestling. Until this weekend, I had never heard her name before.

In all honesty, this second part was not intended as I shy away from celebrity gossip and such. Still, even I cannot help but notice a not so nice pattern in the aforementioned isolated spider-bee incident and Hana’s story. This young woman recently got caught up in the hideous web of social media.

Personally, I’m far removed by anything that happened to her, but mentioning Hana Kimura like this is my way of showing my respect to a strong young woman who mean-spirited individuals preyed on, churned to pieces, making her feel she couldn’t cope.

What a shame this is. What a waste of life. Those despicable individuals who made Hana feel ‘less than’ sucked the life-juices out of her. They ought to be ashamed of themselves. Bullying must stop! May you rest in peace now, young lady.