Invest Empathy
Scarlet, the little teeny tiny ladybug woke up to find herself trapped in an even smaller glass house. She looked out of the glass jar only to see the most gigantic eyeballs looking back at her. She started to climb up, but realized it was so hard to breathe.
“Have to …conserve… energy.” She sputtered
And then suddenly, she felt violent shaking slamming her from side to side and up and down until she fell to the bottom with a ping.
The little boy ran, yelling, “Mommy, mommy my ladybugs not moving!”
“I told you to put that bug out in the garden.”
“But mommy, I think it’s ….”
“Now!” she yelled.
He ran out the front door and down to the garden. He opened the lid, shook the jar out and ran back into the house. Scarlet fell out of the glass jar and floated slowly to the ground.
Leroy, looked up from collecting aphids and saw it all.
“Poor thing.” He said as he scurried over to the body. “I can’t leave it here, dead, to be trampled on.”
He swiftly nudged the ladybug into a hole and covered her with a leaf. He took his glasses off and wiped his eyes. She was so teeny, you could barely see any spots. He then gathered up the aphids he had been collecting and flew back to Lucy.
Lucy was so grateful to see Leroy and the food he brought her. She noticed that Leroy’s eyes were bloodshot. “Leroy, what’s wrong?”
“Oh, no, don’t worry about me. So, you still haven’t gotten inside?’ Asked Leroy
“No.” Lucy said. And as she began eating she told Leroy all about her little friend, Scarlet. How they met in the crowed shelter and how Scarlet would sleep under her chin. How little Scarlet would follow her around like a puppy dog. And about the awful day they were sleeping on pumpkins and Scarlet got taken into the house. Tears rolled down her cheeks and she began to sob. “She needs me. She’s so teeny tiny, you could barely see her spots.”
Leroy’s eyes got big and he moved closer to Lucy and said in a whisper, “Lucy, I have to tell you something. Something bad.”
“What is it?” Asked Lucy between sniffles
He was just getting up the courage to share, when they heard a buzzing sound overhead, like a hornet.
Empathy is understanding what people feel or need because you would have the same feelings or needs if you were in their place. Ask your child:
How did the little boy treat Scarlet?
Why did Leroy treat Scarlet different?
Ladybugs play dead like possums. That strategy is called thanatosis, laying very still and waiting for what is trying to harm them to give up and leave.
Drawing by Sienna Hanson
