Lightning Arms by Grace

Lightning Arms by Grace - September 2024 Scholarship Essay

She stared at me, holding perfectly still, so of course I stared back. As soon as I could make myself leave her for a few minutes, I converted a Tupperware into an enclosure, and I was feeding her little bits of honey as I alternated between being entranced by her tiny alien body and researching everything there is to know about the European praying mantis.

Her name was Venus, and she was gorgeous. I eventually built her a much larger enclosure and spent hours every day for a week or two just watching her. The way she ate fascinated me endlessly. She would snag a live grasshopper in her arms, lightning fast, and then she’d let it kick her until it got tired, and then, very slowly and methodically, she’d start nibbling off its face. I could watch it forever.

An unsuccessful molt is the leading cause of fatal injury or infection in captive mantids, so I couldn’t believe it the first time that I discovered Venus with her old skin on the ground and her new exoskeleton hardening bigger and stronger than before. I’d kept roly-polies and snails and any other living thing I could find in my backyard before, but I’d never kept anything alive as long as Venus, and through two high-risk molts, too! I loved that little bug.

Venus decided to go live her own life not long after her second molt, and I found and kept a one-armed white mantis named Albert in her enclosure for the rest of the summer after she left.

So, what’s my favorite non-traditional way to learn? Taking care of things. I learned so much from Venus and Albert; things about nature and life, but also things about myself. I don’t keep mantids anymore, but I’m still learning from taking care of things all the time. Taking care of the kids I babysit has taught me repeatedly that positivity and laughter can improve any situation. Taking care of my three little brothers has taught me the importance of energy, patience, and empathy. Taking care of my tiny garden has taught me that imperfection can be beautiful. And taking care of Venus and Albert was the beginning of an increased attention to and love for the fascinating nature that constantly surrounds me, which is teaching me how to be happy.