Defense Mechanism

I recently remembered a time in 2nd grade when a wasp flew into my ear and got itself stuck in my ear wax. I remember hearing the panicked buzzing, feeling the frenzied struggling wings, and the excruciating pain of multiple stings. But thinking back on it, it wasn’t the stings or the pain that stand out the most like you would think.

It was the buzzing.

The plea for life. The call for help.

And it got me thinking that everyone needs help now and then, we just don’t always hear it.

Sometimes we’re too embarrassed to ask because of the obscene amount of ear wax in our ears,

And sometimes we ignore it out of fear of the sting it might cause.

But not helping when you can might be the harshest sting of them all.

And I promise you, that is a sting you will remember.

That is a pain that won’t go away.