A letter to the editor appearing in Jan. 13's issue stated that we humans are "more superior than other forms of life" in fact, we are "probably ... more important in God's eyes than say an insect." As a biologist studying insects, I could not disagree more. Apparently my friend from Gackle, N.D., has never heard of God's inordinate fondness for beetles.
Insects are much more important, in God's eyes, than we are. Why else would he create over a million species that we have discovered? He was even clever enough to create another 3-5 million that we haven't discovered yet. Insects must be more important if we haven't discovered all the "kinds" yet.
If insects aren't important, then I guess most of our insect-pollinated crops, including important local species like sunflowers and soybeans, aren't important. I guess malaria isn't important. I guess advances in medicine and genetics gained from studying Drosophila aren't important.
Many human-like species have gone extinct over the last six million, sorry, six thousand years. We don't seem very important if that is true.
Of course, those weren't created in God's image and he just smote them.
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Evan Lampert
Graduate entomology research assistant,
North Dakota State University
Fargo
