Slow Moving Vegetarian
Tonight as two of my housemates were preparing dinner, I heard a scream, complete with squeals and stomping about. In fear that there was a wild animal on the loose in the house, I ran downstairs to check out the commotion. They were both huddled over a stalk of corn, looking at, what I thought, was a lovely green caterpillar with little yellow and red spots.
To them, it was a foreign species that was automatically gross. While, yes, the caterpillar was inhabiting the food that they were preparing to eat, and had eaten a good third of the cob, the caterpillar was not going to eat them. It always amazes me that something so small can have such an effect on someone’s behavior. This caterpillar is a creature that moves less then .007 miles per hour, can not jump or fly, and is a vegetarian. Does the scary come from not knowing? OR does society groom us to fear the “creepy crawlies”?
Needless to say, I helped my fear stricken roommates by taking the caterpillar outside so that it may dine on our fine selection of yard weeds. The next time you come across a so-called “creepy crawly”, take a harder look, and you too may see the subtle beauty.
September 5th, 2006 at 12:49 pm
Funny. This is definitely a symptom of “society grooming us to fear…” My kids will pick up wolf spiders, honeybees, ANYTHING. One time my daughter brought me an assassin bug. They can bite/pierce the skin. Well, my daughter did get her finger pierced. I didn’t even know it until I saw her throw the bug and look down at her finger. I asked her what happened and she said it bit her, with nary a tear.
I find it interesting that a small girl is less afraid of spiders and bugs than probably most grown-ups (including myself!). I do what I can to not put ideas into her head regarding such fears, but it’s tough when all of her classmates freak out over just about all bugs/slugs/worms/etc. Obviously, their parents have projected their fears onto their kids…