Innocence is a gift given freely by Hid. It is a fragile yet powerful force. Powerful enough to create a love for all mankind, for all life, yet fragile enough to be shattered by a single incident, and once broken, innocence can never be repaired. In the wake of such destruction, truths may be learned. One begins to see hate, oppresion and all forms of evil. It is ironic when this change is brought about by the very personification of evil itself, as mine was. An evil so horrific, that it can be called by only one name: insects.

The date was September 15, 1984, my sixth birthday. I remember it almost as though it was yesterday. My mother had prepared a varitable feast in the eyes of a six year old; chicken fried steak, peppered taco meat and marinated chicken breasts. It was hot that day in the city of Saginaw. The river was crowded with happy bathers. The stench of sweaty human flesh hung about us like a dense fog as we enjoyed our picnic in Green Pointe.

I watched my grandfather as he casually swatted the ants that joined our picnic. I thought nothing of their tireless assault at the time, and I, just like the rest of my family, thought my grandfather to be quite mad. How wrong can the heavy veil of innocence make us! I swatted the mosquitos which buzzed about me in a cloud of sorts, a cloud which waned with each swack of my youthful hand.

It was Suzie, my elementary school sweatheart, who convinced me to go on a walk with her through the woods. In reflection, it was a bad decision. Two six year olds walking carelesly through the wood together alone, but life is full of decisions made which are regreted for a lifetime. "What could happen to us?," I thought, for a that age, death is but a word and scars are unkown.

We left the rest of the partiers and began on our merry way down a little frequented path. We skipped past trees and shrubs, going at an ever increasing pace. Joy filled my heart. Here I was , going gaily about with the girl I knew would someday be my wife, one with nature. We spied a clearing ahead and increased our pace even more, our new destination in sight. Suzie giggled, her auburn hair flowing with the warm autumn breeze.

Upon reaching the clearing, we found a log to sit down on. We talked about everything from boogers to the smelly kid in our class. We laughed as we exchanged witicisms which flowed like the river we had just left. Everything was good that day in the little clearing, save one fact. As we talked and laughed we were being watched.

It must've been 15 minutes before I noticed the fear in Suzie's face. Her body was frozen and her stare was averted from me to what seemed to me a spot on the log. I was uneasy with her fear, I had to know what great evil was causing such an earnest look to sweep over my beloved's face. I got closer and craned my neck for a better view. Soon I saw what had created the horror.

It was at least an inch and a half long, and perhaps a quarter of an inch in width. It's form was grotesque and alien, it's six legs a teetering frenzy of hate. It was any human being's worst nightmare, it was a rogue hornet. It eyed Suzie and Suzie stared back.

Suddenly it lept at her, preparing to attack. I threw her out of the way and locked myself in combat with the flying fiend. It would jab, I would parry. It was a worthy opponent, it was obviously well practiced at attacking people. Finally, after some 30 minutes of exhausting battle, the hornet seized the advantage. It stung me in the left eye, blinding me, rendering me unable to defend my Suzie, who was waling in fear.

As I fell to the ground, I heard Suzie's screams louden. I knew that the hornet had won and my Suzie was suffering for it. I could count each individual sting by Suzie's ear-piercing screams, and I heard something else too... The laughter of every insect crawling and flying around me. These were the last sounds I heard before I passed out.

We were found the next morning, and I was told by Officer O'Bryan that Suzie was dead. I realized then that insects pose a direct threat to all of humanity. I swore as I sat there to inform everyone of the dangers of insects and to teach people how to erradicate them.