To Save a Cockroach

I could save a cockroach from death. I could pet its head and rub its skinny legs. I could feed it cockroach food, sing it cockroach songs, and build it a cockroach house—anything to make it happy. But you would think I was crazy—perhaps due for a mental health checkup.

Though I cringe when I crush the heads of cockroaches under my feet, I would not save a cockroach. They are disgusting! Even so, I don’t hate the cockroach itself; I hate what it stands for. 

The World Health Organization calls cockroaches “unhygienic scavengers in human settlements.” It adds that they are “pests because of their filthy habits and bad smell.” They may also cause allergic reactions, trigger asthma, and carry illness-causing bacteria. For those who’ve become indifferent to the cockroach’s presence in their environs: “Congratulations, you are housing a terrorist who does not