Bee-kin

Spotted this cool sign on a neighbourhood fence during a Whitby walk. Made me smile. I love that the invitation to passers-by has an openness to interpretation. Be kind to bees, be kind in general, and maybe beekind, as in bees being considered collectively, as in humankind!

Thoughts buzz further. Taken another step, ‘kind’ without the ‘d’ becomes kin, and potentially ‘bee-kin’! Reminds me of the suggestion from theorist and storyteller Donna Haraway that “all earthlings are kin in the deepest sense.” *

Anyhow, both human and beekind or kin were out simultaneously over the weekend, getting active in bright patches of sunlight – a golden surprise after weeks of rain, freezing temperature and low grey skies.  People were in cars dashing off somewhere, while others walked dogs, or pushed prams. Bumblebees, the odd honeybee, and monarch butterfly probed desperately into the wide yellow heads of dandelions. They didn’t seem bothered by my proximity. Perhaps they had no choice. We’ve all been pent-up by the cold for too long.  

*Haraway, Donna. “Anthropocene, Capitalocene, Plantationocene, Chthulucene: Making Kin.” Environmental Humanities, 6, no. 1 (2015)