Cicadian Rhythm

Cicadas are the white noise soundtrack of summer.

(Universe, lo-fi edition?)

The trumpet sounds that herald a time of heated arguments with the heat index.

Ray-Bans and sun kissed melanin.

Cicadas spend 17 years in the dark, to spend 2 weeks in the light.

Several weeks to crescendo death, helps me not judge them for the noise. Finding love in short time is a lot of pressure to get right.

We tend to side-eye, or flat-out verbally insult these little creatures. Granted no one typically enjoys the attire they wear: big googly eyes and limbs that look like weapons from a zombie game. The thrumming they do gets people the most upset.

If we are exposed to noises at one hundred decibels for more than fifteen minutes, some can get hearing loss. Guess what magic number they thrum a beat at? I think it is just our ears having too much of a good thing. Like those car audiophiles who have speakers that produce too much bass.

Despite the noise and leaving their dead bodies everywhere, they teach us a lesson in perspective. We can have a negativity bias.

The negativity bias is our tendency not only to register negative stimuli more readily but also to dwell on these events. Also known as positive-negative asymmetry, this negativity bias means that we feel the sting of a rebuke more powerfully than we feel the joy of praise.

We can interpret cicadas as a fascination or nuisance. By doing the latter we miss all of their unique design. They radically change their form to fly, something they don't get to practice in their many years underground. Their long life span helps them avoid predators, by not intersecting in their life cycle. Thank you, prime numbers.

Their wings repeal water and bacteria, something we can design into our technology. We learn more than practical things from them as well.

Life Lessons

• Work together, don’t fly alone.
• Keep changing, no matter how long it takes.
• Speak up about the things you love.
• Life is short, don't let fear stop you.
• Move past what you leave behind.

Summer is approaching and we don't expect to see a periodic brood arrive this year. Brood XXII Magicicada may make an appearance in some states. But don't worry, we have a list of other species coming out to annoy us. Let us welcome them with open ears and open minds. We may learn a few things as we ponder their vibe.