Moths prove woes are not only one segments issue

By Sun Advocate

It’s really easy to ignore the world and it’s problems when we set ourselves up in our own little universe. By doing that we can insulate ourselves from other peoples woes and worries and seemingly have a happier life.
In some ways that’s good thing, because if we let the worlds problems permiate everything we do in our existence, we would probably go nuts. Political turmoil and wars, diseases and crime, plagues and pestulance; if we think about it is almost too much to bear.The world can be an awful place. But we as Americans have often been able to insulate ourselves from it quite well. Often, however, it is to our own detriment in the long run.
Over the years we have seemed to become much more callous to the problems in our own society and to pass the problems we see off as “someone elses” trouble.
For instance, take the cutworm invasion this spring. While most of us were starting to enjoy the good weather, and began to play in the sunshine, those in agriculture in the county were sweating more than just the drought’s ramifications. These bugs had invaded early crops, destroying some alfalfa growth in the area, making a bad agricultural year worse.
But the only thing the general public knew or seemed to care about much was the fact that the worms sometimes showed up on their sidewalk causing a mess when crushed by anxious feet.
Now, however, the situation has become the classic case of the “chickens coming home to roost.” Last week I received over a dozen calls concerning the moths that are plaguing our area, the residue of the earlier cutworm invasion now that the creatures have reached their adult stage. Yet I only received one call when the cut worm problem was affecting the farmers in the area.
The truth is that when things affect one group in our society, it eventually affects us all, whether it be a disease such as aids, a social ill such as teen pregnancy, high rates of crime in the inner large cities or a cut worm invasion in a rural part of Utah.
The interelationships may seem distant, but in fact they are not at all.