Worms vs. Snakes

Yahoo! just had an article this morning that read "Scientists Find World's Smallest Snake." Curious enough, I clicked on the link... only to find a picture of a worm. I mean have scientists gone overboard now? Ok ok! Who am I to judge? I'm no science freak. And it probably really was a snake and not a worm. It looked like it had scales. And I'm cracking up imagining a worm with fangs and swollowing something 3 times the size of its body!

Reading through the article, I came up with this very out of the blue idea to write about worms vs. snakes.

I'm not going to go scientific and try to differentiate the two in its whole biological meaning. Who would want to read my post then?! Rather, I want to take the title of my post metaphorically.

What comes into people's minds when they hear the word snakes or worms? I believe most will answer, fear. People fear snakes and people fear worms. However, the fear of snakes is much greater than the fear of worms. Why so? Is it because snakes are larger than worms? But hey, aren't we larger than both of them?

For some reason, people always feel inferior to snakes. They feel they can never defeat a snake. That's why a snake is often the symbol for evil. Does this mean that people feel they can never defeat evil? Hypocrates must answer that one. But tell me this, why is it the common reaction of people when they encounter a snake is they stand absolutely still? They just wait and pray to God to help and push the snake away. So much for defeating evil. We're so lucky we can turn to God to help us fight evil.

On the other hand, people will never feel inferior to worms. The fear of worms exists only momentarily. You see a worm. You freak out a bit. Then you step on the worm and move on with your life. Some of you will even wash your hands or clean your shoe to eliminate the germs of the worm.

Why can't we react the exact same way to snakes? Why do we always have to turn the snake into something that really scares us when they don't have to? I mean if we symbolize evil with a worm, then our confidence will be really high towards overcoming evil. And how about eating gummy snakes instead?

Truth is, snakes will always be snakes and worms will always be worms. And we all perceive both as an enemy. Worms vs. snakes is not just about a comparison. It's about a choice. We either see our enemies as a worm or as a snake. The worms we just ignore. It's the snakes that disrupt our lives.

The problem is, we choose to see our enemies more as snakes rather than worms. We make life more difficult for us by the choices we make. Isn't it supposed to be the other way around? We are better people than what we fear and we should not compromise our choices with the thought of not being able to overcome our fears.

P.S. Reminder that this post is to be taken metaphorically. Please, the next time you see a snake, don't try to step on it! :P