Thursday, November 11, 2010

Ophidiophobia




Why in the world do I love serpents/snakes? To tell you the truth, I was afraid of reticulated pythons, and anacondas 'cos they can swallow an adult male - as what we have witnessed from the film anaconda which somehow became part of my nightmares. I should give credit too to the author of the bible, which in my opinion gave the snakes the bad reputation. They became an unholy symbol of temptation and of evil. As for science (who woke me up to the reality), snakes became a symbol of medicine, as when the great people discovered the deadly toxic that can act as an antidote on its own venom (bravo science!)

When I asked my family about an idea of having a black eyed Leucistic Ball Python all of their response was like this "the bible said they're evil!", "I will never go to your room", "when you wake up, half of your body has been swallowed by the snake", "yuck", "I will kill it when you're away with it" damn it! Of all the creatures, snake is one of the most hated by most people in the world, except in some parts of India (yay!). Come on insects are worse than them and at least they don't eat their male partner after mating with them.

Two years ago, I and Eveth Nocon went out to Manila Zoo to sketch some animals, you know artist thing, and then as we walk by we saw a place called "Kiddie Zoo" where people accompanied by a photographer and a zoo keeper were given an opportunity to mingle and take a picture with the animals, so we tried it too but you need cash to experience everything. After a while we had a numerous photos with baby crocs, a boar, turtle, ostrich, birds and my favorite, a python. At first I was stunned to see an enormous python going towards me. But when i felt its cold body, I realized that it wasn't that bad.

Now, why Do i love serpents? Their scales are covered with nature's art, which can be useful too for their survival and it is just too beautiful. They're very adept hunters and can be considered as one of the most intimidating predators. Most people see them as a violent cold blooded reptile that will just eat and kill anything that moves. But I see them as a striving species who doesn't need arms and legs to live they're life to the fullest and never will never regret it. Unlike us people who can walk and talk, and is the most intelligent creatures, yet can be a suicidal psychopaths or a maniacs that have no respect for life and is the main reason why the world is hanging by a thread. The snakes? They're just doing what they can to balance the web of life. Did I mentioned I was born at the year of the snake? Yes the year of the snake, thus, the name serpentbag.