The Not-So-Secret Life of Bees

I left my place the other day to work at a café, and as I got to the lobby of my building I encountered a big group of people waiting. The concierge said that there was a presentation on the bee hives that are cultivated beside our building. So of course I joined.

The beekeeper gave a presentation on the workings of the bee colony, and how the Queen is a virgin that basically has 8 days to mate starting from the moment she is born! After that she doesn’t mate with anyone again her life. Guess she likes to get it over with! Not to mention being exhausted after mating with up to 15 males. Apparently the 8-day mark is not set in stone though.

Words like ‘always’ and ‘never’ are verbal warnings that whatever follows is probably incorrect. Similarly, drop-dead numbers, such as ‘8 days’ are also usually wrong, especially where natural systems are concerned. Assigning an arbitrary number is like saying once a woman hits 40, she’s doomed to be childless. Well, no.

Honey Bee Suite

Interesting choice of metaphor!

The beekeeper asked if anyone was brave enough to hold the bees, and of course I volunteered. Inspired by my 3-year-old niece who was actually excited to get her vaccine last week.

It was neat to see how the bees are so deep into their world that they don’t notice when their environment changes and their entire planet is passed onto someone else. The bees communicate via pheromones. Pheromones will guide male drones to the virgin queen – a new virgin gives off a strong signal so the men come running.

Bees can fly up to 10 km while foraging for pollen, and they use landmarks to find their way home. “The way you use the CN tower to navigate yourself,” the beekeeper said. Their food source is honey, so when the honey is harvested by humans, the beekeeper must ensure that enough is left for the bees to eat. I went home with a small jar of unpasteurized honey – thanks bees!

One of my favourite books is The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. It’s about a girl that escapes the tyranny of her abusive father by bravely running away. There is one line that really stuck with me… Lily collects bees in a jar and notices that even though the jar is open, they remain flying around inside it. Eventually they discover that they are not trapped and fly out. While observing this, a voice inside whispers to her, Lily Melissa Owens, your jar is open. It’s a signal that although you may feel trapped, in reality you are free, you just have to know it and be brave enough to take the first step towards your freedom. Fear and unawareness are the only obstacles that stand in the way of this step; once you see that, your possibilities are endless.