I have been looking and thinking about spiders a lot lately. Not sure if that means something beyond the fact that it just seems like there are a lot of spiders around my neighborhood. Was staring at a few huge ones last night after the sun went down on a special eclipse day. And they were big spiders. But did they get huge because they spun the best or the stickiest webs? Or were they so huge because they put the web in the perfect spot.
I was almost chuckling at them – There were 4 different spiders that set up shop right underneath a huge light. Don’t focus so much on making the best web … heck it will probably get knocked down soon anyway. Just put a decent web right next to a huge light that all the bugs are going to end up going to.
Is that how the spiders got so big? They didn’t overthink it. And which spider figured out that building webs right underneath lightbulbs was the way to go. Was it some kind of spider innovator, the Dick Fosbury of spiders. Or was it more like the Thomas Edison of spiders. Or was it a spider that actually hung out in Edison’s lab and said, “dang, bugs really seem to like whatever the heck this guy is inventing.”
Maybe spiders just keep it simple. Build a web next to a giant light. Eat bugs. Do it again the next day. Or maybe some spiders don’t keep it simple, stringing huge elaborate webs on car door handles and plants and flowers that will get knocked down immediately, and other ones are like “screw all that work … I am just gonna go where the bugs go.”
Maybe there is a long standing running debate in the spider world about quality versus location. Maybe some spiders look down on the lazy spiders who just plant themselves in front of a big light bulb and claim they are not purists and were never about the technique of the web or the stickiest web recipe that has been passed down from
generation to generation like some kind of special meatloaf. Maybe these spiders like to show off how large of a web they can build and how fancy they can attach it to a branch or a staircase railing.
But all spiders have to eat. And they eat bugs. So maybe its best to set up shop where the bugs go.
Next time you talk to a spider, preferably one that sat down beside her, let me know if I am on the right track.
-SDM
Simpletition - Shawn D. Madden 