A Parable on "Home Security"
by Barry Waller
Let's say you like to eat on your patio, but always get bothered by some bees. You try to ignore them, even though you hate them, and smash the ones you can that land on the patio, and maybe even spray the ones in your yard with poison.
Then, one day, a dozen bees are in the yard, and your little girl gets stung, and she is alergic to bee stings and dies. You realize that the danger is greater than you thought, so you start a posse to go looking for the source of the bees. You are about to give up, because you can't find their hive, then remember this guy a few miles away that keeps bees, a guy you don't like, and a guy who has had some local problems from next door neighbors who are freaked out at having all those bees so close.
The keeper assures you that his bees do not stray far from his hives, so they couldn't be the ones bugging him and stinging his kid. He explains how this group of bees are not big enough swarms to range very far, as they would leave their home unprotected, and also explains that the bees you describe, are not even the same breed as his.
That doesn't matter though, because you are still pissed off and in the mood for revenge, full of the feeling that you at least tried to do something so it would, never, ever happen again. Besides, a bee is a bee, right, and they all have stingers, and a history of using them on humans.
So you pick up a long stick and start whacking the hives, and spraying as many of the swarm that emerge, though you know thousands will escape the demolished hives, and head out to look for a new place to live, in a highly agitated state at the loss of their homes, and their brothers and sisters.
Some of the bees even sting the beekeeper and his family, as well as his neighbors as they flee in panic. A few people are injured and suffer reactions themselves from the bee stings, or the poison spray that also kills a few birds and beneficial insects before it dissipates into the atmosphere, later returning as poisoned rain to do some further damage.
The hives are destroyed, so the bee keeper has no living, and also, no one can get any honey, causing the local price to skyrocket, because everyone there loves honey, and can't do without it. When you get back home, you discover that a pipe burst in the bathroom and caused a few thousand dollars worth of damage while you were busy chasing bees. You also find that your friends are really upset at you for causing the honey prices to go up, as well as for the people they knew nearby who had gotten stung, when they hadn't had trouble from bees before. You don't even mind that, because now THEY also know the danger that bees can cause.
Later, you find that there was a small hive of wild bees under the deck all the time, but by the time you do, those bees are long gone or dead. You don't dare ever tell anyone about that, and even say that it was good in the long run not to have a bee keeper that close, because accidents could happen later if the swarms were to get too large for the hives.
You actually believe that you have made your home safer from bees by your actions, even though you make sure and tell your kids never to go outside again, because there may be bees. You tell everyone how grateful they should be that you took decisive action against these bad, mindless bees.
You take it upon yourself to be on the lookout for bees in the future, promising only to smash the ones close to your house, as well as work to keep all bee keepers from operating in your county, because you still have the right to protect your innocent kids, so someday you can allow your child to leave the house
Because you want to be sure and be on the job full time looking for bees, the most important thing to your family, according to you, you quit your job. Pretty soon the bills don't get paid and the bank takes your house. You end up in a shelter, but you tell your kids, "Well there are no bees here, so we are safe," not seeing the large wasp's nest up in the corner of the shelter, nor the shady looking guys in the shadows eyeing your wife.
What is the moral of this "fable"?
There is more to fear from those to whom safety is foolishly entrusted out of fear, than those they say we must fear and distrust to assure our safety.
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