Dragonflies

There are 145 kinds of dragonflies in Sussex County, NJ, my home.  That's more than any other county in North America!  June is the best month to see them here, and I have been noticing them flitting around in my garden these last few days.  And when I say flitting, I mean flitting!  Dragonflies and damselflies (every time I look at that word, I see damn selfies!) can move in six directions.  For those of you who are directionally challenged, that means forward, backward, left, right, up and down.  Furthermore, they can see 360 degrees while doing this.  While a housefly flaps its wings 1000 times a minute, a dragonfly flaps its wings only 30 times a minute . . . and can go 45 miles an hour doing so!  Amazing!

How these harmless, delicate creatures could have been thought to have once been dragons is anybody's guess.  They don't bite, they don't sting . . . they do nothing but provide a glittering sideshow to summer's glory.  They've cornered the market on iridescence.  They live brightly, but not for long.  Their lifespan as adults is only a few months.  Hence, it is believed that they epitomize what it means to live in the moment.  While we sad humans insist on living in memory and anticipation, the dragonfly knows how to live in the moment, and it does so gloriously.

It is no surprise that the dragonfly has been a source of symbolism in literature and art.  Perhaps my favorite involves the dragonfly as a symbol of a person's rising from materialism in order to see beyond the mundane into the Universe as well as into his or her own mind.  I would like to think that I am on that particular flight as I am aging.

There are lessons to be learned from the dragonfly.  I will study them with love.