Stories. Our human curiosity draws us to
stories. Used to be they were all spoken stories. These oral
legends told us about our world, and our history. They were
teaching stories, spoken to help us understand our past and how
to live in the present to assure a secure future.
Now our stories are mostly written or
presented on screen, and our curiosity is never sated. But how
true are the stories we read, and the stories we see on the
screen?
Did you ever play the "story circle" game? A
dozen or more people sit in a circle, and the first one
whispers something into the ear of the second. This person
repeats the story to the third person, and so on around the
circle. The last person speaks what he heard to the
group.
More often than not, the story at the end is
quite different than it was at the beginning.
How important is this to our understanding of
the world? How does it change the ideas we have, and how we act
on the information we gather?
In late March, I wrote a story about
blackflies. I made the mistake of not checking my reference
books before writing the story. I wrote some things as "facts"
that were straight from my memory. And given that my memory
isn't as good as it could be, this turned out to be a bad
idea.
In describing how blackflies "bite," I
stated, "they drop a bit of acid on you to eat away at the
skin. Then they drink the blood that flows from the
wound."
I remembered this from reading it somewhere.
But now I can't find the source.
Instead, I found the "true" method blackflies
use to get at our blood in Legacy, The Natural History of
Ontario on page 154.
Blackflies feed by macerating the superficial
tissues of the skin with an ingenious set of cutting and
snipping mouth parts that operate like scissors.
The blades are equipped with backward
pointing teeth to help prevent accidental dislodgment during
feeding. The scissor-like action of the mouth parts causes a
local hemorrhage, and the fly sucks up the blood. Hmm.
I'm sure I read somewhere that one of the
biting flies uses an acid to burn a hole in our skin - but I
can't find it anywhere. Maybe it was the stable flies?
Maybe that is why it hurts so much so fast
when they land? I don't know. In any case, I told a story that
wasn't true. I am very embarrassed. I
offer my sincere apologies.
As a nature writer, I believe it is very
important to be accurate. We need to have true stories in order
to understand the world we live in. We need
to have good references, and we need to check
them frequently. And when a mistake is made, it needs to be
corrected.
As well, people need to be aware that
everything they hear, and everything they read is not
necessarily true. When you have doubts, go to the source, and
check the references.
Viki Mather lives by a lake near Sudbury.
