The past two weeks have been an interesting challenge. When you hear what kind of challenges you are going to think I am crazy for framing it so positively. I’ll get to why i think its’s positive.
In the same 3 day period we were hit with both a rat and a mite infestation in our apartment. I have slept less than 4 hours most days this week, either because the rats in the walls are desperatly trying to bite through the wall into our room, or because I’ve been bitten over 20 times by tatami mites.
In the backdrop, my social media and news feeds are bombarded with end of the news style headlines about a holy war in the middle east, the threat of nuclear catastrophe and even if none of that affects me directly, the socio-economic results most certainly will in some way shape or form, and in general I do not want to see people suffer.
I have developed the habit of looking for parallels between my personal life, the lives of the people around me and current world events. Finding these parallels can provide all kinds of useful information and hints about how to handle certain issues.
The patterns I’ve drawn this time are no different.
The fact is, none of these problems are new. We’ve been ignoring them because they are easier to ignore at some times. The rats have been in the wall since we moved in, but we didnt bother with them because we were confident that they hadnt’t entered our room. Thick “defensive walls” protected us.
The bugs could fester because we had been negligent. Futon beds on tatami should be hung in the sun and tatami should be cleaned once a week. We managed to clean around 20% as often as we should have. Though we are very mindful to avoid making a mess with food and small crumbs, we tend to ignore the decay that occurs from not having enough sunlight. The room isn’t condusive to such attention because the sun doesn’t shine directly in.
The same can be said of the issues of the world right now. Very few of these issues are an island, most have evolved out of negligence and denial and are results of poor planning and avoidance. Nation states and politicians and corporations have been in denial, ignoring the rats in the walls. More importantly, the majority of the population, the small pieces that make everything run properly, they have been willfully ignorant and in even deeper denial than these organizations.
The “rats in the walls” here are not a group of people or an ideology that we deem as “the problem”. It is hate and unaddressed anger, mistrust between communities that is reinforced by behaviors and by history. It is the issues we pretend won’t come to bite us in the ass one day.
National debt and Inflation.
Damage we do to the environment.
Homelessness.
Addiction.
Fear.
Hatred.
Our lack-based desires for control over things that naturaly do not react well to control.
We hope doctors and scientists can eliminate illness rather than trying to live healthier lives.
We expect politicians to fix the worlds problems when we can’t even say hi to our neighbors.
We stereotype entire groups of people and then block ourselves off from seeing each persons individuality.
Rather than focusing on being better and better, we spend much more energy finding fault with others.
Sustainability is a buzz word rather than a real ideal that is integrated into our systems.
We solve problems without thinking about how our so-called solution may cause new problems.
As for these pests:
I could easily nuke my apartment with all kinds of poisons to kill all the pests at once. It will likely result in me poisoning myself to some extent.
I could spend another $3000 usd to move. The apartment management company clearly has no interest in helping, nor does the landlord, who could easily find a new tenant and is probably too old to even remember the place exists. That’s what two of our neighbors did.
I could completely give up and resign to the fact that this is just something that people without a lot of money have to deal with.
I could front the bill for the exterminator myself, and put myself up to $1000 in debt. Between consultations and various pest problems, that’s probably what it will endnup costing.
I could deal with the itchiness and rat poop and keep turning a blind eye, waiting for someone else to come and take care of it. Maybe a new neighbor will come in and call the exterminator on the rats and maybe when the season changes, I will have some temporary releif from the bugs.
Don’t these scenarios remind you of some people you know, with regards to the rising price of education or increasing political tension or gentrification or the looming threat of AI stealing all our jobs?
So many people defering to experts who don’t necessarily want to help and aren’t as talented as they are given credit for. Getting heated and acting or speaking rashly, or ignoring the problem even when they are knee deep in it, or praying without taking action or assuming there is nothing they can do.
You can’t solve racial tension or sexual assault or even ignorance by yourself, but you can challenge yourself to have the conversations you are afriad to have. You can’t force people to have different political or religious beliefs but you can refrain from getting into arguments and focus on what can bring about more understanding.
As for the rats and the bugs, I am trying to keep a cool head while realizing that I will probably have to handle this myself. It will likely be unpleasant but in the process I am learning and growing.
I won’t mope around and blame the neighbors. I will clean my house down to the last nook and cranny and I will develop a habit of keeing it clean. I will actively work to solve the problem with patience and strategy.
We’ve set up somewhat sophisticated traps all over the porch and closed up the existing hole that the rats can enter. We sprayed every wall with non-toxic repellent which will make it less likely that they try to make new holes.
We are spraying the tatami every day for bugs, alternating between a low-toxicity spray and vinegar and airing out the room to avoid breathing in the toxins or smelling like vinegar all the time.
It’s only a matter of time before we solve this problem.
There is a lot more I am learning from this experience, about myself and my fears and thought process, but I think it makes sense to save that for another day.
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