RDP  Thursday Prompt: VERMIN

Title: Grass and Insect
Creator: Shin Saimdan Descriptive Title: Watermelons and Rats

When I was little, some people in my life- those people being “friends” or even family- used to refer to me and my brother and sister as ” screeching monkeys ” or ” little rats “.

Even back in the day being called a monkey or vermin was a racially charged slur that people knew better then to use, but some people believed if you did it with a smile it was a ‘ nickname’ or something lame like that.

The mental gymnastics people perform to justify their cruelty could win some of them gold medals, they are THAT good at it.

To be sure, it used to bother me back then and as an adult it actually hurt- until I realized how afraid of rats and primates people actually were.

A run in with the wrong rat- just one rat- can cost  could  your life and Chimps will tear your face off lickety- split, just like that, and as they do it, they look like they are laughing, they even look like they’re dancing around on top of it.

So I suppose I don’t look down on ” Vermin”. On the contrary I look up to them for good reason. They may be small,  people may dress them up and make fun of them but at the end of the day- they can bring cities and the toughest individuals to their knees. Not bad for worthless ‘vermin’.

Conilurus albipes, white-footed tree-rat (1788-1797). Probably by Thomas Watling (1762-1814), from the Thomas Watling Drawings Collection, held at the Natural History Museum