I Don’t Want That Stuff on My Broccoli!
This morning in the gym locker room, where most of my socializing is done, I overheard a woman talking about her garden.
“I don’t play favorites. Anything that is on my broccoli has to be killed. I kill everything.” She sounded proud.
I thought of all the little bugs, born in nature, trying to find something to eat.
“One guy said, ‘you just killed a monarch butterfly,'” she continued. “I didn’t care. They were caterpillars, you know? I killed a whole bunch of monarch butterflies, in the caterpillar stage. I say, if they wanted to live, they should have stayed off of my broccoli.”
Monarch butterflies are disappearing by the billions in this country, almost exclusively due to farms and pesticides. Less than a year ago, a campaign began to save the monarch butterfly from extinction. There are only about 30 million left.
“Well you want to nurture your garden,” said the broccoli gardener/murderer’s friend. “You have to use some pesticides.”
“Oh, I don’t use pesticides,” said the butterfly murderer. “I don’t want that stuff on my broccoli! I use scissors and cut them in half.”
At this point, I wanted to vomit. I wanted to scream at her. I wanted to ask her if she also supported banning Muslims from the country. But it was done, and there was nothing I could do to stop her from her killing spree.
Even if I’d said something, she wouldn’t have changed.
I did print out a copy of the article about the campaign to save the butterfly, and next time I see the woman, I will give it to her. After that, it’s her decision.
Then, to help the butterflies I can save, I bought some milkweed seeds for my own garden – which, thus far, consists only of two butterfly bushes and – now – some milkweed plants.