I am one of those people who doesn’t off bugs if I can help it at all.

It began because of an aversion to the crunch many of them make when squished, but has grown into a respect for all creatures great and small.

And listen, I know that spiders and their many legs just naturally give many people the heebie-jeebies, and that initial reaction to do violence can be hard to resist.

But when it comes to our eight-legged pals, there are far more reasons to live and let live than to squash them out of fear.

For their part, spiders aren’t all that interested in human beings. We’re too big to eat and surely they have learned by now that they are better off avoiding us altogether. While in our homes, though, spiders do their best to keep pests at bay.

They take care of between 400-800 million metric tons of prey annually, the vast majority of which are things you really don’t want in your home – think flies, mosquitoes, cockroaches, and moths. This helps prevent infestations of critters that are infinitely more harmful than the spiders themselves.

They also help maintain local biodiversity, culling populations of insects that might otherwise become overly populous. Spiders indicate a healthy environment, and removing them could tip and unseen balance.

And listen, real talk: the vast majority of spiders are completely harmless to humans. There are more than 50,000 species of spider around the globe, but less than 30 of them have proven to have the ability to cause significant harm to human beings.

In fact, most species will not even attempt to bite unless directly threatened, and if you get a nip – even from one of those medically significant spiders – a quick trip to a medical professional should return you to ship-shape in no time at all.

So the next time you see one in a tub or a corner, or maybe scurrying across a basement floor, just tip your hat and go about your business.

They’re there to do a job, and it has nothing to do with you.

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