I have always hated and feared snakes. Not phobic fear — I wasn’t paralyzed at the sight of one — but fearful nonetheless. If phobic is a 10, and indifferent/neutral is a 1, I fell somewhere between 7 and 8. Lots of reasons behind that, but I’m pretty sure the feeling is somewhat universal. I know there are people who like snakes, but I maintain those people are the outliers and, to be frank, weird. If I offend you with that, sorry. But not really.
Yesterday I attended a venomous snake seminar for continuing education to keep up my law enforcement certification. It was put on by the Auburn University Extension, and was taught by two venomous snake experts (one had a doctorate in herpetology). I voluntarily signed up for this class because I was determined to face my fears. Well, the first thing the instructors did to start the seminar was dump a couple of copperheads on the floor. (See the pic above.) Wow! They had my attention!
By the end of the day I had personally moved copperheads and timber rattlesnakes into and out of buckets multiple times with different tools. I had let a indigo snake (non-venomous) crawl over me, and held a small alligator. (Not a snake, I know, but very, very cool.) It was all pretty awesome, and I believe I’m now down to about a 3 or 4 on the fear scale. Still don’t love snakes, but at least my blood doesn’t run cold at the thought of one.
My thanks to Jimmy Stiles, Raymond Corey, and Wes Anderson, who gave me the opportunity to overcome fear with knowledge.
