A Life Lesson From Fireflies at Elkmont!

One of the columnists I most enjoy with the local Knoxville News Sentinel is Sam Venable, whose articles appear 4 days a week. Today, June 24, 2005 he wrote about the fabulous show that the Fireflies are putting on in parts of the Smokies in East Tennessee and over the mountains in western North Carolina.

We’ve already posted a couple articles about the newly famed Synchronous Fireflies, but Venable goes on to say that “these bugs – which blink in unison, stop in unison, start again in unison – have become media darlings the last few years. So many people have been flocking to the Great Smokies to see ‘em, it’s been necessary to arrange shuttle buses to and from Gatlinburg.”

One viewer to the shows, Mike Clark, said he was downright awestruck by the presence of the bugs themselves.

“We were standing on a trail in the middle of Elkmont, not sure of what to expect,” he says. “As soon as (the bugs) started blinking, all conversation. What conversation there was after the show started was in hushed, almost reverent, tones.

“It made me think that human beings, who are always looking for something to fight about, could learn something about working together from humble bugs.”