We have long been proponents of kindness, even to animals; and yes, even to spiders. One of the first years we taught together we were shocked to hear some of the young men say, "If it moves in the woods on a Saturday morning, I"m gonna shoot it!" I hope my cats stay close to home was all I could think. While we do eat and appreciate venison, killing something for food is different from killing something just for the fun of it. We just could not imagine Jesus saying, "See that gorgeous bobcat I made? Why don't you go kill it just for the fun of it?"
In our opinion, it is of much greater value to teach kindness, even to spiders. It does not prove how manly, cool, or superior we humans are if we can squish a spider. So yesterday when my husband found a spider in his classroom, he captured it, had the students look at and appreciate it, then let it go outside. (While we do appreciate spiders, we don't necessarily appreciate them inside our home, or classroom.)
What happened today was pretty neat. Some of the 7th grade girls who happened to be in the class where the spider was captured and removed yesterday, brought my husband this today, in one of their leftover lunch containers. The container had a coating of peach slime, so the spider got his ration of sugar for the day. They observed it, laughed a little, and then let it go. Outside, of course.
