The Mirror We Keep Missing
We’re terrified of parasites.
We buy protocols.
We cleanse.
We scroll endless videos looking for signs they’re living inside us.
At what point do we stop fearing parasites…
…and start recognizing the ways we behave like one?
Before you stop reading, hear me out.
I’m not saying human beings are parasites… although, there is an argument for that.
I’m asking what we might learn if we were willing to notice the parallels.
A parasite extracts from its host.
It takes what it needs.
It gives very little in return.
When left unchecked, it compromises the health of the system that keeps it alive.
Now zoom out.
We strip forests.
We pollute rivers.
We destroy habitats.
We spray entire ecosystems.
We consume as though resources are infinite.
Then we act surprised when the systems we’re part of begin to fail.
Again…
I’m not making a biological comparison.
I’m making an ecological one.
Nature has always been one of our greatest teachers.
One of the things I love most about spending time outside is that it has a way of holding up a mirror.
Patterns repeat.
Not because they’re identical.
Because they’re recognizable.
We’re quick to point at microscopic organisms.
Much slower to examine the ways we’ve normalized extraction, consumption, and disconnection in our own relationship with the Earth.
That realization shifted something for me.
Because suddenly the conversation wasn’t just about parasites anymore.
It became a conversation about imbalance.
About reciprocity.
About relationship.
Every living system depends on some form of exchange.
Breath.
Water.
Nutrients.
Pollination.
Decay.
Nothing exists in isolation.
Nothing survives by taking forever.
Which makes me wonder…
Maybe the better question isn’t simply,
“How do I get rid of parasites?”
Maybe it’s,
“What can parasites teach us about imbalance?”
Because nature rarely wastes an opportunity to teach.
Sometimes she teaches through beauty.
Sometimes she teaches through breakdown.
Sometimes she teaches through the things we’d rather avoid looking at altogether.
What if parasites aren’t just something to eradicate…
What if they’re also an invitation to ask a much bigger question?
How are we living?
What kind of relationship are we creating with the systems that keep us alive?
With our bodies.
With each other.
With the land beneath our feet.
If nature has been holding up a mirror this whole time…
…what is it asking you to see?
P.S. If these are the kinds of questions you find yourself asking too—the ones that invite us to look a little deeper than the obvious—I hope you’ll subscribe. This is the kind of conversation I’ll continue having here.
