The spider and the bee

Shadow is presently fiercely watching, and occasionally trying to pounce on a bee. The bee is outside, so she can't get it, of course, otherwise I'd intervene - Shadow doesn't need to be stung on the nose or mouth. But her harmless pounces have drawn my attention to the plight of this bee, which has caught one of its legs in a spiderweb.

The bee is desperate. It alternately tries to pull itself away by walking and by flying. Neither work. The spider, from its safe location on the far side of the web, watches patiently: the bee is to strong for the moment. Some minutes or hours of struggle will wear it down, and I expect that the spider will then move in to finish the bee off.

And I am faced with a decision. It would be very easy to open the window, cut the web, and release the bee. But our interference in matters like this is rarely beneficial, except in as much as we sympathize with the bee, and feel better once we set it free, as if we've done something to make the world a better, fairer place.

We haven't, of course. We free the bee, and the spider suffers. What is more, how is it that the bee should be valued over the spider? Or the spider over the bee? Gary Larson wrote on this subject in There's a Hair in my Dirt, the story of Harriet, who loved all creatures (all cute, furry ones, at least) and did all she could for them. In each case she freed the bee, and ultimately, she makes the world a worse place for it. There is a balance between bees and spiders.

So do I give in to the emotions and free the bee, or give in to my reasoning and leave it to its death? Either way, I'm not exactly happy.

Postscript: Turns out that the bee escaped on its own, so all this was for nothing.