KS&L 290 Lightening Bugs

When you live in the West, you enjoy the pleasure of low humidity, dynamic vistas, and glorious days of endless sunshine. However, when you live in the East, especially the Southern United States, there are some unique pleasures there as well once you get past the mosquitoes, the humidity and the poison ivy. The Southern United States offer the jewels of gorgeous Technicolor countryside, the ozone producing summer drama of thunder, lightening and rain, and the charming canopy affect of trees that grace every highway and neighborhood. But best of all, the South has Lightening Bugs.

Actually, without the rain, the heavy foliage and the powerful humidity, Lightening Bugs couldn’t exist. For those out West or in other countries, perhaps it would be good to describe just exactly what a Lightening Bug is. Well, what it is, is magic.

Lightening Bugs or Fire Flies as they are also known are little insects that come in at least two varieties in the Deep South, but globally there are over 2,000 species. One is a lovely light rusty brown and lives on leaves and climbs on plants during the day. When you can find one in daylight hours, they are still magic, because they crawl on your fingers and will actually do this for quite a while before they think about it, extend their charming little wings and fly off a short distance to a nearby tree. The other kind is rather black with a red head. The larvae of Lightening Bugs are known as glowworms.

Fire Flies can emit yellow, green, or pale red light. Their light is a cold light in that no ultraviolet or infrared rays are produced and 90% of the energy that they produce goes into the light, without creating heat. Contrast the efficiency of that bioluminescence to a man-made light bulb, which only converts 10% of energy into light and gives off heat.

Sometimes, even though we can scientifically identify what is happening with a creature, sometimes we forget to consider how the existence of that creature affects us: that their interaction with us, creates a karmic situation. When we become adults, sometimes we are so busy being adult, that we forget to remember what created magical moments in our lives. We also forget to enjoy the magical things around us that are often subtle, gentle gifts of nature.

The word ‘magic’ comes from the ancient word ‘magi’ which meant wise one, or in less romantic terminology, white magician. Often these priests or magi, were the ones who were revered precisely because they understood how to speak to nature, how to read natural signs and how to live in harmony with nature. We call it magic, they called it obeying natural law and they knew that obeying that law carried with it a great deal of karma, but enough history, back to Fire Flies.

Lightening Bugs start their mating ritual on sultry, Southern summer nights. They hang in the warm moist air at about four to seven feet off the ground. They are thinking carnal thoughts, so they forget to notice that they are easy to catch. Many a child has put a bunch of them in a jar with holes in the lid and hoped he or she could take the jar to bed to read by the light of fireflies. Little kids blinded by charm and innocence, forget to notice that you cannot organize lightening bugs to glow at the same time. By morning, they are released and allowed to restore their energy for mating.

Sadly, fireflies light charming Southern nights less and less as habitat and pesticides destroy their way of life. However, near wooded areas where there are lots of trees and yes, often poison ivy, we can find them. These creatures invite us to slow down and enjoy those magical natural times where we can watch them living and being at one with nature. In those precious moments of discovery we can be little kids again ourselves and delight in those wonderful memories of childhood.