Same Mentality

     As the days keep passing by during my observation of flies, I had begun to notice a certain habit that the flies showcase: cleaning themselves. Out of all my times in observing the flies that visit me occasionally, I had not seen one fly calmly settle down and not move. Flies are constantly twitching about, swiping their legs across their furry foreheads, their limbs, eyes and body in whole. Flies' legs end up mostly rubbing against one another to take the dirt off of their bodies. When I think about it, their erratic actions remind me of of a disorder called Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD).
     According to Psychology Today, OCD "is an anxiety disorder in which people have unwanted and repeated thoughts, feelings, ideas, sensations (obsessions), or behaviors that make them feel driven to do something (compulsions)." This means that a person has so many thoughts that keep repeating themselves and that these thoughts are not something that the person wants but has to handle and deal with because they get anxious or get a feeling of having to do something. OCD is a horrifying disorder and with that disorder in mind, I thought about animals having mental disorders. Do animals have mental disorders just like humans?
      In doing some research I have found out that animals can suffer from psychological disorders. From Animals are People Too, it says that animals can have the same mental disorders like humans, such as depression, post-traumatic disorder, anxiety and the list goes on. When I looked at the flies' erratic actions of always having to clean themselves, I thought about how flies may not have any control over their constant cleaning. Since animals have mental disorders and flies are categorized as animals as well, than perhaps flies have mental disorders too. Flies may not have any control with always having the urge to clean the dirt off of their bodies. When I watched a fly stop cleaning itself for a moment, it had become anxious, jumping from leaf to leaf and buzzing around me to possibly occupy itself from its nagging thoughts of having to clean the dirt off.
     Animals experience the same problems as humans do like when a dog is anxious, or had a traumatizing event like being abused and it being scared around people because of the constant fear of the person hitting them. People deal with abuse as well. Every living creature on earth experiences the same things and have to deal with mental disorders, so in a sense, people and animals experience mental problems because a lot of humans these days don't take into consideration that animals, to, have the same problems as we humans do. So next time when an animal may look that it's feeling down, anxious or showing any signs of weird behaviors, don't brush off their problems like it's nothing because animals go through the same internal battles like people and we should all treat each other the way that we ourselves want to be treated when we're having trouble.

                                                           Works Cited

     "Obssessive-Compulsive Disorder" Psychology Today. Sussex Publishers, LLC. n.d. Web. 23

          Oct. 2014.
   
     Bender, Kelli. "12 Animal Psychological Disoders" Animals are People Too. 

          pawnation. 24 Sept. 2014. Web. 23 Oct. 2014.

Unique Eyes

When I was wandering about in the back of my yard, and watching the flies buzz lightly around the strawberries, I had often wondered "How can flies see where they are going?" seeing a blowfly, I had realized how intriguing their eyes are.
     The blowfly has stark red eyes, like red liquid splattered over a granite road. If one looks very closely at the eyes of a fly, one would start to notice how they have no eyelids whatsoever! Flies don't even blink. According to this website animals.pawnation.com/flies-see-out-compound-eye-5361.html flies eyes can see light differently compared to a human's eye and "see shapes, motion and color differently."

                                             

                       From the website http://bugphoto.net/2011/02/16/in-your-fly-face/

                                 I found a picture of this fly here and it's magnificent

                                                                     it's eyes. 

As I looked at the blowfly that perched itself in the curve of a decaying leaf, it's eyes reminded me of those toy telescopes where the child would look through the whole, point it in the direction of the sun and see a wide variety of patterns, shapes and colors. Perhaps that's what the fly sees through its own eyes? If I were a fly, I would be overwhelmed with all of the shapes and colors invading my vision but then again, maybe the fly is used to such an overwhelming thing and is thankful for how it sees. The fly has more than one eye, over thousands actually (that's incredible!). The fly sees so many different things at the same time. If I were a fly, I would probably end up feeling light headed and dizzy with so much images invading my brain. 

     Humans see things in different aspect than flies do. Humans intend to see things while moving their eyes but flies see things by using multiple eyes and picking up "different points simultaneously." Flies may see the world in a different ways than humans. It's common for humans to take what they see for granted, while flies see many more than the regular human eye can, possibly concluding that what flies see can impact what they think of the world compared to how humans think of the world. 

     Flies may end up thinking that the world is filled with intense color and appreciate it more than humans. They are somewhat ignorant to what humans see, since most people view the world negatively, flies maybe view the world positively, and even seeing dead bodies might attract them than how we humans see dead bodies as. A fly can see things in an artful concept with all of the different shapes, sizes, and color but a lot of humans appreciate the world's art as well. So as to say, flies may be in a happy trance with what they see or with always jumping about from the slightest movements; it could be a very scary experience for them. 

     With how I see it, flies see a lot more of the world than humans do and see its beauty and it's terror in a more enhanced version. That's why flies are so unique, they see different things and interpret things differently than the regular human does. Flies are valuable in the sense of having a way different perspective compared to a person, because without varying opinions, than the world would be quiet boring, so people should appreciate how others see things. I would love to be a fly one day to experience how they see the world through their eyes. Perhaps, I can find out how a fly looks at a person and how it judges one. That would be an exhilarating adventure. 

                                                             Works Cited

     Marlow, Micheal. "In Your (Fly) Face." BUGPHOTO. WordPress. 16, Feb. 2014. Web. 27,
   
          Oct. 2014. 

     Masters, Madeline. "What do Flies See Out of Their Compound Eye?" pawnation. Demand 

          Media. n.d. Web. 27, Oct. 2014.

Pain and Emotion

On the third of October, I watched a blowfly buzz past me and land on the cement floor of my patio. I imagined someone’s ginormous foot cast a shadow over the fly and step ever so carelessly on it. I could hear a sickening crunch to the flies back and the squish of its organs being scattered about across the ground.

     When I imagined a fly being stepped on, I questioned, "Do flies feel pain?" To answer my question, I did some research. According to Neurophilosophy, "humans have emotional aspects which are processed in the association areas of the cerebral cortex." Scientists don't even know if flies have emotions to the point where they could feel pain like humans do (isn't that crazy?!). Someone can step on a fly, and the insect may not feel it at all! Since no one has figured out if flies even have emotions, than the human or animal killing it wouldn't know if the fly would be angry or feeling hurt when the human or other animal is killing them.

     If a person thinks about flies not having emotions, wouldn't the person feel bad for the fly? Having no emotion is like being a robot. If someone was to hit another and that person wouldn't react with anger or sadness at the thought of being hit because they don't know what to think of it, wouldn't there be so much shock from the person who did the hitting? Without any emotions, can one consider a human a human? With that question in mind, when I think of humans, the word "emotions" pop up because people are basically walking emotions, having expressions that indicate if they are sad, happy, angry, etc. How can humans interact and get to know one another if they can't compare and contrast their feelings and figure out if they like each other without emotions getting involved? Emotions are very important in making decisions and choices, so wouldn't the world be chaotic without them?

     Think of humans not having emotions, If they don't, than humans would probably end up being categorized as flies or insects. But if flies have emotions, and a human were to be a fly for a day, they would figure out how it feels like to be a fly and see that flies are just as valuable as humans perhaps.     

     Flies are very interesting creatures, they can't feel pain like humans do and with that single concept in mind, it's something that fascinates me to no end and I can't wait for the day when scientists figure out if flies can feel pain or not and if they have emotions.

                                                          Works Cited

Mo. "Do insects feel pain?" Neurophilosophy. ScienceBlogs. Dec 1. 2007. Web. Oct 12. 2014.

     

A Revelation

The sun had cast its illuminating light upon the vibrant green leaves, the wind rustling and jostling the leaves about. There was a warm breeze that swept around the strawberry patches that the flies had been occupying since August. When I had gone out, eyes wandering to one leaf and the next, I spotted a bundle of leaves that had slowly been rotting away. There were brown tints at the tips of the leaves, reminding me of burnt book pages, where the fire licked at the paper like acid chewing away at skin as the books pages shriveled up and became a pile of ash. Another leaf had purple splotches enveloping it, looking like a bruised and beaten plant. The strawberry patch had a sense of negativity about it. Something living was slowly dying.

   
                            This picture was taken on the 29th of September
                            on my phone. It is a picture of the "burning" leaves
                                                   I had described.

     The strawberries that lined the patch of leaves were on different levels of ripening, some looked about ready to pop, as if the strawberry had a swelling blush like when a woman gets complimented. The strawberries that were just budding, were like miniature cactus's, green and spiky.
     A black fly landed on one of the budding strawberries. The fly was black as a raven's feather and its eyes were a pastel white. My body tensed while my breathing had stalled. It was watching me, rubbing its furry black legs together in a way that had me cringing. This fly was different than the one's I had seen before, while the others were bright and gave off a friendly manner, this fly wasn't. It eyed me like I was the scum of the earth and it hated every part of my being. I could imagine its mouth slowly tipping up at the edges to form a condescending smirk. Like it knew something that I didn't. It had a sense of knowledge and it was dangerous. For the first time in my life, something so small, had made me feel so inferior. The fly had suddenly jerked its body, looking like a blur of black dust as it flew straight at me. I was struck with dread and stepped back. My terror was like a harsh slap to the face. My heart raced, feet tripping over one another when the fly targeted after me. Than it was quickly gone, leaving me breathless with my heart hammering against my chest and my ears thrumming wildly. It had mocked me. Utterly scaring me with such little effort that I was embarrassed at myself for a moment. So I stood there, trying to regain what little dignity I had left. A fly had frightened me to the point where my mind went blank and my fingers shook tremendously.
     Sometimes the smallest of things can be the most terrifying. It may seem that since its small, it can't hurt or scare someone, but it can. The decaying leaves had left me with negativity and dread while the black fly made me feel inferior and scared. Don't underestimate anything, for it can shock someone beyond belief. I had underestimated a strawberry patch and a fly, and both things so small had left me in shock and in fear.