This year you may have noticed a pattern with our weekly blog. Each holiday we try to celebrate its spirit by highlighting a commonality that is shared with the honeybee. On Mother’s Day, for example, we talked about the notion of motherhood in a hive. On Earth Day we talked about simple tips to save the native honeybees.
So since today is Memorial Day, this blog is dedicated to the idea of sacrifice. The sacrifice our troops make for the good of our society, and the sacrifice each bee makes for the good of their colony. For those who don’t know, Memorial Day is celebrated on the last Monday in May. The holiday honors Americans who have died while in Military Service.
We honor our fallen because they died for our country. Most didn’t have to join. Most could have chosen a different path. They chose to serve in the military and ultimately sacrificed everything in service of our nation.
So what about the honeybee?
It’s different for bees. Sacrifice is instinctual to the honeybee. It’s something they are born with. In the world of the honeybee, there is no personal autonomy. The idea of free will or individualism just doesn’t exist. The hive does not exist for the honeybee. The honeybee exists for the hive.
Take the drone bee for example. His only role is to mate with the Queen. If he succeeds, he dies. If he fails, the rest of the colony eventually kill him. Why? Because the Drone can not contribute anything of value if he doesn’t mate with they Queen. Check out an earlier blog on drone bees to learn more. It seems brutal to us humans, but for the honeybee, it’s all for the greater good.
Then there is the Queen. When a Queen bee is born she has to fight in order to survive. Weak and/or aging Queen bees often have to leave the colony if they are replace by a younger, stronger Queen. Sometimes the rest of the colony will side with one Queen over the other. Once they have picked a side they will help overthrow the weaker Queen. All for what….that’s right. The greater good!
How about the worker bees? Do they get to choose what role they play in the hive. Heck no! Eventually they all become Guard bees. Think of it as a mandatory draft. Once a worker bee gets to a certain age, she becomes a guard bee and will live out the rest of her life guarding the hive. If there is a threat, she will attack and sting anything that poses a threat. Of course once she attacks and stings, she soon dies. But once again…it’s about what’s best for the colony, not the individual bee.
So what can we learn from all this? Every society (human, insect, animal) has a social system that dictates the level of free will or autonomy within the system. Bees will die for their colony without thought. Humans usually have a choice whether they want to join the military or not.
It is for this reason that Memorial Day is one of our most important holidays. It’s not about an extra day off, a picnic at the beach, or a sale at a store. It’s about understanding and appreciating those who died in service for the rest of us.
We at Bee Best Bee Removal hope that this blog makes us all remember how much we owe to those who have died for our country. In honor of the holiday we would also like to present a video of a live swarm that was removed off of the USS Midway in downtown San Diego. It’s a fitting video because the swarm was removed during the Wall That Heals installation. Notice the yellow and black ribbons which represent those who died or went missing during the Vietnam War.
