Taken out of my comfortable little world

[Understudy]

Well I just got done spending opening weekend at the South Florida Fair. I spent it at the Palm Beach County Beekeepers booth in building 5. I brought my observation hive and did a frame extraction demo.

What I was amazed by is just the huge level of fear people have of bees.

I understand it, they sting and it hurts. Everyone loves honey and hates bees. And I mean hates them. Most common question asked about my bees in my observation hive:
"Are those African bees?"

*sigh*

I swear 40% of the people claimed an allergy to bees.

LIARS!

Out of the almost a thousand people we talked to over this weekend. I would say less than 20 of them had any real interest in bees. Now when I did my honey extraction and gave out some free samples they would line up out the door.

It is amazing to me. I mean I don't like to get stung either but it is far from the worst pain I have ever felt. Maybe a beesting is the worst pain these people have ever felt. But I guess when you sit at a desk and push papers all day life can be pretty brutal.

Can you tell I am a little bitter. I bet those paper cuts people get at their jobs are awful.

It is very hard to deal with people who don't want to know and don't care to know.

Don't get me wrong I had a great time at the fair. But there are some people who need a good whack with a cluebat.

I want to thank an overreactive media for making my job as difficult as possible.

Fighting ignorance is taking longer than I thought.

Well I feel beeter now that I have vented.

Sincerely,
Brendhan

[buzzbee]

Carry on You're doing a great job.
Sometimes doing a good job is like wetting your pants in a dark suit. It gives you a warm feeling, but people don't seem to notice! :)

[Jerrymac]

I had a paper cut once. Brutal  :shock:

[organicgrl37]

It is amazing what preconceived notions folks have about bees. I once led a tour around one of the farms I worked at, when we got to the observation hive there was complete fear. I also had just about everyone tell me that they had been biten by bees not stung by a pointy thing sticking out of their bums (the bees not the folks :?) Also stories from the folks of "bees" swarming around them at picnics and attacking them :?,and that honey is really bee poop :?

I really felt that I needed to sit these folks down and teach them a thing or two. I hope that I atleast opened the eyes of some of them.

[Cindi]

Brendhan, quite an experience.

I looked after our bee both at our fair last July 15.  It was a pretty hot day and the display was indoors.  Yikes!!!  I think that during the entire 6 hours that I manned the display, there was probably only about 6 people that came and looked.  I was surprised of the non-interest in honeybee world.  It was a pretty discouraging day, we all have put a lot of effort into the event and it just did not pull in interest.  We did not sell stuff, just displayed what the bees do.

If it had been outside, then it may have been another story.  But the goods had to be in a place to be locked up at night, surely stuff would have gone missing.

The observation hive was very cool for people to look at (the few that did).  That was probably the most interesting part for them.  I can't believe how frantic the bees were to try and get out of the hive, felt rather bad that they were cooped up like they were.  Oh well.  Great day.  Cindi

[Kirk-o]

To Many people think the real world is T V movies most people are SPECTATORS not
really involved in life
keep up the good work
kirk-o

[Scadsobees]

Lets face it...the closest that most people get to an insect is its butt splattered on a windsheild.  All others are an instant "squish it!!".

A bee is anything that flies and can sting (most of the time they are wasps or hornets).  Most people have bees swarming and nesting all over their house every year, and they are the same things that I get honey from.  And the media is comprised of these people too.  And I imagine it is that much worse in an area where the ahb is moving in.

Ignorance is a powerful force.  Just consider yourself fighting that force one person at a time.

On the otherhand, I've found beekeeping to be a way to connect to an amazing amount of people.  Most people have tons of questions about how it all works.  We will see how things turn out when I start showing up in places with my new observation hive....

Keep it up and try not to get too frustrated.  Free honey can start those first couple of questions.

-rick

[Kev]

So much of what people eat today comes in a package that folks don't know where food comes from. Our neighbor's little girl was stunned when my wife pulled a carrot out of the ground. It's sad, but people don't experience the outdoors or even know much about how any of their food gets to them. Also, having an "allergy" is popular now. I think it's sort of like needing counseling but without having to pay a for therapy.

Honey and bees -- well people are pathological about bugs and anything that stings. People up here flipped when West Nile went through, despite the fact that 30,000 people die from the flu each year. I don't think it's about getting hurt, it's just ignorance and fear. And FEAR is not rational.

All of you who take your time to show people what you do. You're doing a great service. Not to yourselves or probably to your businesses, but you're helping overcome this weird society we live in. Keep it up and don't get discouraged.

BUT not all the pencil pushers are the same... some of us push pencils by day and garden, keep bees, build stuff, work on cars and generally try to fend for ourselves the rest of the time. The problem is pencil pushing pays, and all the rest doesn't pay so well ... at least in my case.

Kev

[Zoot]

Brendhan,

We've become a snivelling society. It was inevitable.

What's a cluebat?

[Understudy]

Brendhan,

We've become a snivelling society. It was inevitable.

What's a cluebat?

A cluebat: is a device used to hit someone over the head until they get a clue.
Examples are linked below:
http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20030208&mode=classic
http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20030210&mode=classic
http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20030211&mode=classic

Warning geek humor in cartoons.

Sincerely,
Brendhan

[Brian D. Bray]

The only difference between a cluebat and a baseball bat is what you're using it for at the moment.