Ten minutes to write. Less time to read.

We are plagued with a particularly heavy and resistant mosquito population this summer, and it keeps me inside at a time when our yard is at its loveliest. As I sit in the family room and stare out the window, I am making a list of things that seem unnecessary.

Mosquitoes top this list. I know various insects are important for the pollination of flowers while others earn their keep by eating smaller insects. But what good do mosquitoes do? Their reputation is based primarily on their skill at spreading malaria (another unnecessary thing!) and annoying attendees at back yard picnics. I’ve never heard anyone say anything good about them.

Other items that made my list include the necktie, the appendix, and different colored shells that fit over one’s cellphone. The unnecessariness of the first two has been well documented long before me, but nobody has asked what various colored cell phones do to improve reception or save money on your telephone bill. Why DO they exist, other than to provide choices that in themselves are unnecessary too.

Finally, there’s the brand name logo. I never understood why I should pay a lot of money to have a horse and rider on my tee shirt or a CK on my prescription eyewear. Instead, I think I’ll start a campaign to have designers pay me to advertise their names on the back of my car or the back of my jeans.