Discovered this giant, slow-moving bug trying to cross the school car
park yesterday. Surprisingly, a few kids exhibited some awareness,
noticing it long enough to give it a brief taunting (usually, kids
here never look down and regularly break things they’ve stepped on).
I fully expected a bike or car to take it out at any moment, but they
never got the chance. Just as I was showing the security guard what I
had photographed a noisy, careless kid stomped on it. The guard
laughed! Not the most environmentally interested, the Vietnamese. The
kid kept walking like nothing had happened, being so self-absorbed he
couldn’t feel the hard shell or hear the loud crunch under his shoe.
I stood there in silence, wondering what it was, if it was rare, was
it still alive and in pain, and was it someone’s pet.
Most of all, I wondered if people’s attitudes to nature, particularly
in Vietnam, will ever change for the better.
Posted via email from RockPortrait in Vietnam
I accidentally stepped on a snail the other night (it was dark,) but I felt it crunch and felt really bad. I’m always trying to figure out what element in society separates those who care about nature and the world around them and those who don’t (i.e. those who throw trash on the sidewalks, in the woods, and in the rivers they have to fish out of.) Glad someone appreciated that giant bug (even if I would’ve kept my distance
.)
Oh, I feel the same way when I step on a snail. I hate hurting living things. I wish I had time and skill enough to do a study on the violent, careless urges of my students. I don’t get it, and I’m not sure I ever will.
That bug was a little chill-inducing as it slowly but meticulously lumbered forward, smelling the air with it’s very long feelers. I felt like it would leap at me with lightning speed after first luring me too close.
I’m so glad you got a photo of it, before that lumbering oaf stomped on it. Just this morning I was trying not to step on all the earthworms that slithered out onto the road after a heavy rain. Sad really, how many people don’t care.
Most people in Vietnam think it’s really weird when I stop to marvel at a strange bug.