An integral part of living in New York City, or rather an unavoidable part of living in the city is the interaction with the world’s grossest: the roaches and the rodents.
I would not consider myself a very fearful individual. If anything, before this specific incident, I was the household hero. I was the official and certified bug killer in my home of all women. While my sister and mother jumped atop furniture and scrambled away from the insects, I ran into battle. I freed the spiders, smashed the flies, and trapped the centipedes.
So when I moved to the city, I didn’t expect any difference. Sure, there was the occasional rat in the subway tracks. My friends and I would glance down, share our disgust, and move on with our lives. From time to time I would even see a roach crawling along the gutters. Again, I was able to glance, morph my face into disgust, and move on.
However, unfortunately, I ran into a motherfucking cockroach in my dorm room. My solstice, my home, my beloved bedroom. I opened the door, unaware of what awaited me, and was surprised by a lovely crawler speeding across the room. Maybe it bothered me so much because I knew that if there is one, there are hundreds. Maybe there was a roach infestation on the horizon. My once humble abode, humble, yet mine, had been invaded. It took me over 30 minutes to kill the roach. Not because of its intelligence, but rather because every time I moved a piece of furniture to extort it from its hiding place, I screamed and watched it scurry away. I was surprised by my inability to just get over it and smash it with my shoe. I was mostly afraid of what a squashed cockroach would look like. As I stood on top of my bed, holding my shoe to strategically drop on top of it, I imagined what a smashed date might look like, or an oozing bloody roach on the floor. Eventually, I realized it was either smashing it or letting a million other crawlers repopulate. It was simply disgusting and quite revolting.
But the roach incident led me to inquire about it. Why was everyone on the earth so afraid of bugs? Roaches in particular? They couldn’t bite. Sure they were gross, really gross, but there had to be more. According to bugs.com, I realized that the fear of bugs is actually an evolutionary feature that humans have developed over the years. The fear of roaches in particular was created to protect us. Cockroaches and other bugs love old rotten food and other trash that can spread disease and cause humans harm.
So the next time you are standing atop your bed, glaring down at the measly bug who is probably more afraid of you, remember that it is a sign. An evolutionary feature has led you to this moment of disgust to keep you safe.