Nobody Loves Me – A Cockroach’s Sad Tale


                              

Everyone hates me. I have yet to come across someone who is happy to see me. That’s why you rarely see me during the day. I prefer the darkness so that I don’t upset anyone. But I have seen that in the night when someone switches on the light and I happen to be sighted, screaming and cursing starts. The ladies especially dislike me more, but the men are no less. So many of my siblings and cousins have been killed because of this hatred. Brooms, slippers, shoes, sticks, are some of the weapons used against us.

I want to tell all of you that we (the cockroaches) are not bad. We have nothing against the humans. In fact, we contribute so much to the environment. We feed on putrefying and decaying matter (imagine what would happen if we don’t feed on them) and in the process the nitrogen that is trapped in them gets released through our faeces into the soil and is used by the plants. Scientists have found us so very useful in cancer, heart disease, and nutritional research. Yet we are reviled.

I understand we are not blessed with good looks. Our males are not gorgeous looking and our females are not sexy but does that mean we should be hounded to death? Do we have any control over our appearance? Aren’t we all creation of the one and only God? So why this hatred for us? If you dislike us, drive us out of your home. Don’t be a good host but don’t be a killer.

So many times, we have discussed and keep discussing, why humans hate us so much? I plead to all of you to treat us kindly. If you recollect, whenever we are being targeted, we don’t run away from you, but towards you. That’s a sign that we love you and we expect the same love from you.

If you have a change of heart, look for me in the kitchen near the garbage area or in the toilet somewhere in and around the commode, or in nook and cranny that is dark and dank. My radar-like antennae have already started to quiver in anticipation.

-          NZ

9.7.2019


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