Butterflies are the most hopeful of animals. I’m always thrilled when I see the first ones of spring and I silently cheer on those that last until autumn. One of the three insects I didn’t fear as a child (ladybugs and fireflies were the other two), butterflies seemed like nothing so much as goodness incarnated in insect form. While at the 4-H Fair a couple weeks back, we were fortunate enough to be there for a butterfly release. Volunteers handed butterflies to children who were eagerly awaiting the opportunity to hold one. It’s like touching a rainbow. It reminded me of the butterfly rooms at various museums or zoos where even adults wear bright colors and hold still, hoping an insect will select them for a temporary perch. We want to be kissed by butterflies.
Photo by Shiebi AL on Unsplash
Their hope goes beyond their bright colors and the cheer they spread. To become a butterfly is to be willing to undergo transformation. A caterpillar is an eating machine. When its biology gives it the cue, it forms a chrysalis and inside that temporary shelter made from its own body, it literally dissolves. Nature, knowing what to do, reconstructs that goo into the flowers of the animal world. Could there be anything more hopeful? More able to draw tears of joy? Butterflies don’t bite—some don’t eat at all—they don’t dig into you with sharp chitin, they don’t fly into your eyes or ears. Gentle and delicate, their sole purpose seems to be the bringing of happiness to other creatures.
I know I’m over-simplifying here, but I’m in a poet’s skin this morning. Life transforms us. We don’t know what’s ahead and some things melt us down and make us into something else. The butterfly shows us how to do it with grace and light. When times are difficult we realize, often only later, that we have been transformed. We had built a cocoon around ourselves, we dissolved and became something even more beautiful than we were before. Winter came and froze our world, but when we felt the warmth of spring, we responded, not even knowing how we did. And looking back we can see that we bring color and light and joy into a world that had formerly been gray. There’s a reason that butterflies are widely recognized as symbols of hope. They’re brave without even knowing it. And they give the world just the optimism it needs.
