What can be said of these stories now that they are told? What lesson does the honeybee’s life tell us? That changes with each person.
“Oh yes, life is so hard for those _bees_,” someone said once after reading a story. That is true but it is too narrow a view. Life is hard for the bees, but more over Life is hard. Everything that lives struggles to survive. Everything that lives faces challenges each day. The reward for overcoming is a new, different and potentially deadly obstacle.
“It is a miracle that bees survive at all,” said another. The miracle is that they do so along side of and in spite of our best efforts to help and guide them. The Honeybee is a patient teacher for those who watch. What we see in them tells us much about ourselves. Driven by instinct and not free will, the honeybee still rises to defeat its enemies. It toils for the good of its sisters and makes sacrifices for the welfare of all. One can learn much from them.
To live alongside of and learn from nature.
To run on its schedule and not my own.
To cooperate and not dominate.
When the time comes for me to hang up my bee suit, when the river of life takes me far from the bee garden, I will take with me these lessons from the hive.