The Power Of Mosquitoes, Small Stones & Arrowheads

Nuclear Bombs Or Mosquitoes: Which Is More Deadly?

Reported by New York Times
The Mosquitoes Are Coming For Us

They are our Apex Predator, the deadliest 
hunters of human beings on the planet.

It has been one of the most aggravating sounds on earth for more than 100 million years — the humming buzz of a mosquito.    (Strange how one falsehood can nearly spoil interesting truth. RB) 

She gently lands on your ankle and inserts two serrated mandible cutting blades and saws into your skin, while two other retractors open a passage for the proboscis. With this straw she sucks your blood, while a sixth needle pumps in saliva that contains an anticoagulant that prevents that blood from clotting. This shortens her feeding time, lessening the likelihood that you splat her across your ankle. 

The female mosquito needs your blood to grow her eggs. Please don’t feel singled out. She bites everyone. There is no truth to the myths that mosquitoes prefer women over men or blonds and redheads over those with darker hair. She does, however, play favorites. Type O blood seems to be the vintage of choice. Stinky feet emit a bacterium that woos famished females, as do perfumes. As a parting gift, she leaves behind an itchy bump (an allergic reaction to her saliva) and potentially something far worse: infection with one of several deadly diseases, including malaria, Zika, West Nile, dengue and yellow fever. 

Mosquitoes are our apex predator, the deadliest hunter of human beings on the planet. A swarming army of 100 trillion or more mosquitoes patrol nearly every inch of the globe, killing about 700,000 people annually. Researchers suggest that mosquitoes may have killed nearly half of the 108 billion humans who have ever lived across our .... existence. 

Flying solo, the mosquito does not directly harm anyone. It is the diseases she transmits that cause an endless barrage of death. Yet without her, these pathogens could not be vectored to humans. Without her, human history would be completely unrecognizable. 

The mosquito and her diseases have accompanied traders, travelers, soldiers and settlers (and their captive African slaves) around the world and have been far more lethal than any manufactured weapons or inventions. 

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My Comment:

The above article magnifies, for our viewing, the usually unseen, unimaginable power of the smallest of things when used with timeliness, accuracy, potency and persistence. A single, almost invisible mosquito, can kill several people in its short lifespan. Even a microscopically infinitesimal chigger can make you scratch  fuss, and whine for days. 

Greek mythology alludes to the single, small vulnerable weakness present in the strongest, most fearsome and well armoured champions, such as Achilles, the Roman  Emperor, warrior king. Achilles was killed near the end of the Trojan War by Paris, who shot him in the heel with an arrow. Achilles was invulnerable in all of his body except for his unshielded heel. Alluding to this legend, The term "Achilles' heel" has come to mean a point of weakness, especially in someone or something with an otherwise strong constitution. It is a fact that every person, no matter how famous, powerful, beautiful, accomplished, or protected, has a point of susceptibility, an Achilles heel, of some sort, vulnerable to the smallest of weapons such as an arrow head, a tiny bullet or a fact of truth. 

Another example of this ironic fact is the nearly 7 feet tall, Philistine giant, with a spear and huge sword, covered head to toe with armour with a small opening in the helmet for his eyes, and a shield bearer out in front of him. He was confronted by the youngster, David, with a palm sized piece of leather holding a small smooth stone, and with a leather string on each side. The giant cursed David for his puny inadequacies and vowed to feed him to the buzzards. But David, running toward the giant shouted back, "You come to me with a sword, and a spear, and with a shied but I come to you in the name of the Lord". Then David slung his sling-shot and hit the giant in his only vulnerable spot, between his eyes, in his forehead, and he crashed to the ground ... dead ... with a small stone embedded between his eyes. David jumped on top of Goliath's body and chopped off his head with his own sword, and the war was won. The lesson here is be on the Lord's side, the moral side, have faith, practice your own talents, be brave, analyze the enemy's weakness, and attack that weakness.  Even the strongest iron chain has a weakest link. 

God sent a dream to a pagan king for the Prophet Daniel to interpret, which represented a series of then, future earthly  kingdoms (Dan.2:31-35). The king saw a huge, strong, glowing image or statue, with    "a head of fine gold, his chest and arms of silver, his belly and thighs of brass, his legs of iron and his feet part of Iron and part of clay"    who looked impregnable.  But a single stone was cast against the image's feet of clay, the final kingdom, and the feet were crushed and the entire image fell apart ... a heap of ruin. Every human and every power and every political kingdom has feet of clay, which usually become their downfall. 

The Atheist's feet of clay is doubt. Attack the doubt with truth. 

Many a politician, or otherwise powerful person, has been permanently neutralized by a single unpleasant fact his opposition knew about him/her. A certain, recently, hamstrung Attorney General, silenced by the opposition and finally ousted by the President comes to mind.