What makes you superior to a mosquito?

According to Genesis God left the creation of man for the end, so it is understood that the mosquito existed first. This leads some Orthodox to think that man is above the mosquito, as long as he obeys the law that God has given him, so that if he does not observe it, he is below the mosquito. Up to here we will agree that the ability to obey a law implies a certain degree of intelligence, at a minimum, but is it enough to comply with 613 precepts, Ten Commandments, or 217 civil codes to be superior to a mosquito?

A mosquito is distinguished from a man by the following: he cannot but be a mosquito. You cannot sit down and talk to a mosquito and explain to him how annoying his buzzings, his bites, and how lethal they meant, mean, and can continue to mean his way of life to the human race. No, him on his own, the only thing that stops him is insecticides, burning cow dung or last but not least a slap. A mosquito mutates only to become more resistant – and with stronger larvae. A mosquito doesn’t change his diet. A mosquito, believe me, has no choice.

Man, on the other hand, the human being, has that preciousness which is called «free will» and right in the midst of a lot of manifestations of life which he does not have, just so that he may unjustly shine more brightly in his innocent ignorance, perhaps, and what is free will? To be able to choose, that is. You chose to read this article, another chose not to read it, and everyone is the result of their choices, that is free will. Each one, as a little red riding hood, chooses the longest way, or the shortest way, to then measure himself against the consequences, with luck and destiny playing far away.

Man, too, is usually very lazy, perhaps reminiscent of that lost paradise, where everything was within reach and effortless, right? And then he usually chooses the path of least effort and greatest risk. Or just the other way around. The point is that all the time we’re choosing, choosing. Book or movie? Sofa or park? And can you imagine the father of a family in Syria thinking, I’ll stay, I’ll go, I’ll expose them to my puppies, we’ll all gamble, I’ll gamble alone? And the one who suffers terrible ailments and thinks about euthanasia and has no one to talk to?

There are many people out there who choose to blame what happens to the other person, it’s an option, and it’s the traditional one. There are also those who choose to take care of themselves, those who go around saying I am the consequence of my actions and omissions’; yes, I know, they are few and far between. You see, for me, what makes you superior to a mosquito is your ability to choose, your power of choice. By the way, you know what makes you look like a mosquito? That very famous self-assertion phrase «I am like that and I will not change». You, do you have options?