The Friday Fictioneers is a friendly writing challenge hosted by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields. The task of the challenge is to write a story in 100 words or less. You can find all the Fictioneers’ stories when you click on the little frog. Reciprocation is the life of this challenge!
What’s Love Got To Do With IT?
“What’s this?”
“A red rose. It represents love. Earthings were obsessed with love, with the need to relieve their devastating loneliness.”
“Ah, human love, praised and serenaded by half the galaxy–and yet…”
“I know. Their actions told a different story. They were torn between their cataclysmic aggression and their need for intimacy.”
“So their love’s sole purpose was procreation?”
“No, there’s more. They also had altruism.”
“Altruism and aggression. Permanent conflict.”
“An evolutionary dead end.”
“Exactly. But without their decline, we wouldn’t have had a chance.”
“A successful campaign. Well done, soldier.”
“Everything for the hive, my queen, always.”-
(100 words)
Last week’s post about bees created quite a bit of buzz in my comment section, which is good. I just wanted to clarify that the bees that are most endangered are wild bees, native to your area, not the domesticated European honey bee. They have their problems, too, but they don’t suffer half as much as the wild insects do. I have a few links with good information if you’re interested.
First about the double blooms that most often are sterile: https://laidbackgardener.blog/2017/04/20/double-flowers-bad-news-for-pollinators/
Two links to information about bees, one from an American, the other from a European perspective: https://blog.nature.org/science/2019/08/19/focus-on-native-bees-not-honey-bees/
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00442-021-04862-6
Finally a blog post about insect ecology with some explanations about their role in the ecosystem: https://www.wise-geek.com/what-is-insect-ecology.htm
/end preaching 😉
Write already! 
Funny how passion and aggression, love and hate, are two sides of the same coin – you can’t have one without the other, can you?
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I don’t know. I can’t think of one. A philosophical question. 🙂 Thank you.
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I’m about ready to say let the bees win – I think human aggression usually gets the upper hand in that equation.
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You’re probably right. It’s a very fine balance and can shift in an instance. Thank you.
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The point about humans is that we’re not really programmed to do anything. It’s all about what we learn
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No.
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Yeah… we humans keep getting it buggered up, don’t we?
Sigh…
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Yeah, we are not smart enough for our destructive potential. Even without compassion, not destroying your own planet seems a logical thing. However… Thank you Dale. 🙂
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No, we are not.
My pleasure, Gabi.
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Wow, that’s a terrific story, Gabi; it has so much I like.
“Earthings were obsessed with love, with the need to relieve their devastating loneliness.”
“human love, praised and serenaded by half the galaxy”
“cataclysmic aggression”
“Altruism and aggression. Permanent conflict.”
“An evolutionary dead end.”
“Everything for the hive, my queen, always.”
Super! Kudos!
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Oh Penny, what a comment, you make me blush! I’m glad you like, thank you so much.
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Loved this (if love is allowed!).
Made me laugh and made me think, about love/aggression and about the limited resources of our planet that we all want to acquire for ourselves, our own tribe/family – ultimately at the expense of our own tribe/family.
Will return like a little busy bee to read about bees etc. People do get confused about diversity and bees. My impression this year is that I have even fewer bees than ever in my garden.
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Love is always allowed, it’s our redeeming quality. 🙂 You’re absolutely right about the tribalism dilemma. Just as with ecology, people are not used to look beyond their immediate environment at complex interconnected systems. I blame the education systems that don’t make an effort to explain these things in ways everyone can relate to. Thank you Miranda!
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Absolutely – our education system in the UK has got more and more competitive and individualised at the expense of cooperation, at the same time as not explaining what really works in a fragile finite world.
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Dear Gabi,
We humans are contradictions on feet, aren’t we? Well told with dialogue. Love the honey of a reveal at the end. Sehr gut.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Thank you Rochelle. Ahem. Writing dialogue gets more story into the 100 words… IF the readers can follow it. In this case I like to live dangerous. 😉
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I’m glad the bees are thriving now we’re out of the way 🙂
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Thank you. They are alien bees, they have all the skillz… 😀
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The first thing that got me was the title and thoughts of the associated song. A fun read. Well done.
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Thank you. The song really does stick in one’s head, doesn’t it?
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Yes, it does.
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I liked the conflicting notions of nature verses humans. Of course the bees will succeed, they are better aligned and organised for co-operation.
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Thank you! They are, as we know them. Makes me wonder what their society would look like in detail.
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I love this. Human love is a frail thing and so at ends with our penchant for destruction. And this allows the bees to thrive and survive. ❤
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Thank you! Let’s hope that love conquers all… 🙂
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Humans, complicated creatures that learn nothing from the past. Thank you for your ‘sermon’ and its links to some very interesting places!
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Thank you. Sometimes I watch history documentaries and the phrases used, the reactions, the madness, anger… we haven’t changed a bit. And I’m glad you got something out of my ‘sermon’. 😉
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Creative story, Gabi. We humans are a contradiction and often it’s our downfall. Smart alien!
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Sometimes I think it’s not so much aggression but indifference that’ll do us in. Thank you Brenda!
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as humans, we are subjected to the forces of yin and yang. it’s our destiny and fate. there’s nothing we can do about it.
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But yin and yang are in balance, aren’t they. Our behaviour seems a bit unbalanced. I don’t believe in destiny, so I’m always hopeful that we’ll get smart eventually. 😉 thank you!
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Awww … if we could just learn and do better.
Interesting write, Gabi. Have a wonderful weekend …
Isadora 😎
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A bit more awareness wouldn’t hurt, I agree. Thank you Isadora, have a great Sunday.
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Fantastic twist! Having recently been writing about bees, I related to this story. Bees are much more democratic than humans! You told the story with a salient message so well.
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Thank you! I’m glad you liked the twist. What did you write about bees, is it on your blog?
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It was an article I wrote after interviewing a beekeeper for a magazine I write for. You can find it here: https://forestwoodfolkart.wordpress.com/?s=bees+
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Thanks for the link. It is an interesting article.
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👍
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We are a complicated species. We even complicate simple things like “Love, good! Aggression, bad!”
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Heheh, why am I reminded of the Flintstones all of a sudden? Thank you!
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Because I’m barefoot?
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Alien bees – fantastic. I like how you capture the human dilemma here. We do seem to be trapped in a conflict between our better selves and our destructive urges. ‘An evolutionary dead end’ indeed. Well put.
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I hope I’m a bit too pessimistic here and we get our aggression channeled into useful outlets. Thank you Margaret!
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Excellent story, Gabi. Truly it is our fatal flaw as it is an irreconcilable dilemma:
“They were torn between their cataclysmic aggression and their need for intimacy.” I would be perfectly happy if bees took over the planet. I’ve been seeing a huge number of the giant bumblebees on my blossoming trees and not so many honeybees. Should I be worried?
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Thank you! It’s what the bees think, it doesn’t have to be 100% accurate. 🙂
I don’t know if you need to be worried, that depends on where you live and how things are managed there.
In Europe, the honey bee is bred and not the wild strain any longer. Only few remain in the wild, the managed strains swarm less and harvest more. The hives are sometimes stationary, sometimes they are transported to flowering fields, like rape or mustard or orchards. In the last few years, bumblebees are being bred and transported also. We have these huge plastic tunnels with strawberries in the area and there aren’t enough pollinators left, so they buy bumblebees and release them in the tunnels, sigh.
I don’t know if that is ‘a thing’ where you live, I’ve read that the European honey bee (which is not native in the Americas) is transported in North America as well. The big insects usually have an advantage towards the wild, smaller ones when food resources are scarce. So, if your bumble bees are wild ones, there should be areas for them around in your area which is good. If you miss the wild bees… that’s indeed cause for worry. I’m sure that could have been said with fewer words, I suck at explanations. 😉
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Gabi, thank you for taking time to explain. It is appreciated. 🙂
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You could just check out your local branch of an environmental agency. 😀 Where I live, they have the relevant information of the area.
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Aggression and love. Stings and honey.
Maybe they do know a thing or two to understand us better.
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Thank you! Yes, maybe they do. Or maybe they are a bit arrogant and think we are so weak… which would be right if they could have replaced us, I suppose. 😀
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“Need to relieve their devastating loneliness”
Nicely done analysis of humanity. I love a good breakdown from an alien perspective
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Thank you! Maybe one day I write about the human resistance. There have to be some hiding out in some jungles… if there are any left.
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Great story and use of the prompt, I try to keep my garden slightly wild for the bees and wild life. I read the link
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Thank you Michael, and yay for your garden!
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