Shifting Perspectives: Cockroaches

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For today's "shifting perspectives" series, where I highlight "unpopular" species to try to shift some of our dislikes/prejudices, I am discussing the humble cockroach. The photo in the middle I took of a jungle cockroach (way bigger than the ones here in Georgia) and other images are from a book I read many years ago called Cockroaches by Joanna Cole. The page on the right is what made the difference for me so that  I was able to shift my feelings. It states:

"In its own personal habits the roach is a clean insect. It spends hours cleaning itself. If you get a chance to watch a quiet roach, you can see it washing its feet like a cat. Then, reaching up with a front leg, it will pull an antenna down into its jaws and wash it by letting it slide through them. "

The part about washing like a cat is what I think did it. This image allowed me to think of the roach as more than an occasional unwanted visitor to my home. It made me look past the "ick" and think about how these tiny beings that are despised almost universally spend hours carefully grooming themselves, just like my beloved cat children.

I am not suggesting anyone roll out the welcome mat. I don't like it when they come inside our house either. But I live in the American south and we have had a rainy summer, and no matter how spotless our homes are, they do find a way inside once in a while. It's an inevitability in this part of the world. There is even a local nickname for them here, Palmetto Bugs, because they often hide under the big leaves of our coastal palm trees in this region.

What I'm asking for is to see them as a being that deserves to live. Consider taking them outside and setting them free. There is no need to kill them. It is very easy to catch them with a plastic cup/container and a flat paper plate or piece of cardboard. Place the cup over them, then gently slide the paper plate under (cut the plate so it is fully flat.) The roach will walk unto it and then you can release him or her outside. When I do it I give them a little reiki & assure them they will be ok & I am only taking them outside where they will be safer, because my daughter Gracie Belle is a skilled huntress.

Please consider that if you have an interspecies family, your dog & especially your cat will most likely hunt and possibly eat a roach that gets inside. This is another powerful reason to refrain from using pest control chemicals  because the poison that kills the cockroach will end up in the cat's stomach when they hunt them.

Cockroaches have little faces, like the cute insects do. We think grasshoppers are cute & lucky, why not roaches? They have souls too. Again, I also fully prefer they live outside the house, but it is fairly easy to take them out without having to touch them. I realize this will not be a popular post, but I'm sharing it because I received the most wonderful compliment the other day. Someone who attended my Intro to Animal Communication last year (part of the give back program at the Love & Light Institute) told me that ever since that class, she has been taking all the insects she encounters in the house outside instead of killing them. This may seem small, but it put a giant smile on my face to know that perspectives can shift with a little understanding & compassion.