Nature

3 summers ago, The first summer in my new place, I went home after work one night. When I turned on the lights to my surprise and disgust I was welcomed home to the sight of hundreds of flies swarming in my kitchen. Each one was a copy of the other.

After spending a good part of the night shoeing flies out of the back door, sucking them out of the air and off of windows with a shop vac. It was time for me to figure out where they came from. It turned out that because I lived on the second floor and left my back door open so my cats could hang out on the balcony, flies had come in and laid eggs on their food some time earlier.

This posed a problem. How could I leave my door open so my monsters to go out on the balcony without going through that again? A fly is wired to fly around and look for things to lay eggs on. It’s their nature, it’s what they do and have been doing for millions of years.

There are people who are wired to do damage, not care, or drain as much out of a person that they can.There are guys out there who’s #1 goal is to drive through as many women as many times as they can before they either “grow up” or die. It’s who they are and what they do. It’s their nature. There are women who exist to get as much money as they can from as many guys as they can before they “grow up” or die. It’s who they are and it’s what they do. It’s their nature.

There are people who just don’t care. Or don’t realize how much they are hurting someone else. And when they find out, they can’t make the changes the other person needs them to make to not hurt them. They can’t change who they are, just as a fly can’t change what it is.

It is important to pay attention to what people do. If they do anything to hurt, discount or mistreat us it is probably their nature. And don’t expect them to change. No one is worth the heartache, worry and disruption they cause. No one has the right to hurt us.

Ever since “the night of the flies”, part of my summer routine is to clean my cat’s food dishes the first time I walk into the kitchen when I get home from work. I had to take the responsibility to prevent another disaster. Flies do what they do and are going to keep doing it.

Ever since more than a few encounters with people with “issues” its part of my routine to pay close attention to what people do and figure out who they are. If they are worth my time and energy, great. But I'm always looking for flags and soon as they do something that crosses the line, they are done. I have much better things to do. We all have better things to do.

By the way, when I got home today after writing the text to this post at a coffee shop this is what I found on some cat food. I expected to find it. It's their nature. Its what they do.

Trace