white man's fly

Has anyone noticed the lack of honeybees lately? I have. This past season was the first time I saw a total lack of fruit on the pear trees and the teasel, butterfly bushes and every other bee-attracting plant, showing a dramatic absence of these insects. We still have enough hornets and wasps, but honeybees just aren't around. Sure, there are a few of them, but nothing like the populations of years past.

There seems to be two camps explaining this phenomenon. One group blames cell phones and the other doesn't. Studies show bees just don't like the frequency emanating from cell phones. It seems to disrupt their communication and navigation. They seem to leave the hive and never return, leaving only a few immature workers and the queen. The other camp claims it's a fungus or bacteria brought on by improper feeding, stress from overpopulated colonies and long-distance, tractor-trailer travel by the beekeepers to parts unknown for slave labor, to pollinate crops and produce honey for their human masters.

I tend to think beekeepers don't treat their bees anything like big business treats their human workforces. I've found beekeepers to be naturalists in the purest form, developing a symbiotic relationship with bees as partners rather than slaves, and profit is more of a byproduct rather than the goal. A beekeeper who mistreats his bees is a contradiction in terms.

As I look around this place where I live and see only woods and open fields, I wonder if the bees that left the colony are setting up shop around here. Why not? A perfect habitat for bees. Lots of things to pollinate, and no stress by people.

But as I mentioned before, there are no bees in this area to speak of. Not nearly enough to keep a colony going. A bee can travel about a mile or so from the hive and find its way back before sundown, and the one thing that all sources agree on is the bees leave and never return.

What about cell phone towers? You'd be hard-pressed to find an area without them. They seem to grow like daisies, and every one of them puts out extremely low frequencies. Isn't it more likely these towers' frequencies might affect a bee's navigation?

Every cell-phone user I talked to would rather starve to death than give up their cell phone, but all believe we are killing our planet with carbon footprints from plastic bags and oil.

Revelation 6:6

"Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, 'A quart of wheat for a day's wages, and three quarts of barley for a day's wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!'"
It's a little-known fact that grapes and olives don't need bees, but rely on wind, for pollination.

But one thing that stays in my mind is the American Indians' notion of the honeybee as white man's fly, and to see a bee means white man isn't far behind. They also believe when white man's fly is gone, the end times are soon followed.

At least we'll have enough wine and olives.