I Owe an Apology

Dear snakes, lizards and such,

You have frightened me as a kid growing up in the south of Iran. I found you crawling up on the window screen. I saw you moving behind a rock next to my feet as the sun was setting. I witnessed two of you big snakes being shot at with a gun at a spring time picnic. You were every where in the south. Numerous stories were told about your deadly venom. And how I wished that all of you would disappear from the face of the earth, evaporate, go to an everlasting extinction. I could not even look at your photographs on the pages of magazines. I’d stay away from the pet stores that sold reptiles. I have never watched a TV show that involved snakes. You guys basically freaked me out and made me sick to my stomach.

Now, I owe you all an apology. I do apologize for finding you the most dreadful creature on the face of this planet. I am very sorry for wishing your extinction. You may not look as cute as a puppy or a kitten or as adorable as gold fish or some exotic bird. However, you are unique in your presence. And I am sure you are beneficial in providing the balance for life on earth, as all creatures are in their own way. And if you attack and bite humans it is your nature and for your protection. It is not out of spite, jealousy and greed that you bite and release your venom in someone’s flesh. It is you being a snake as you know it.

My dear sweet creatures I am being apologetic for I have met a two legged human being who is as cold blooded as an amphibian. Her venom is more deadly than your gal pal South Asian King Cobra, South American anaconda or your Texan rattlesnake. The human kind spit and toxin that can easily ruin not only life of one person but destroy the lives of many. This can go and on without any remorse. For getting older does not ensure wisdom and also there are these pretty masks we humans use to hide behind.

Yours Truly,

Azita


Photograph by Mattias Klum, National Geographic