February 10/2006   
A snake with a message ? by Stan Gielewski

Some of you might know that besides keeping turtles I am also an avid snake lover. I have few in my care and I absolutely love them! They are wonderful creatures, many of them very gentle and curious. Unfortunately, many people give snakes a bad name. In the movies they are often depicted as something sinister, a creature of darkness in the bas sense... It is so unjust...

Snakes are wonderful creatures ! They mind their own business and never bother people. True, there are occasional accidents when people get bitten by them, but that's only a result of ignorance and lack of understanding of them on our part. The bad image they get comes from how we portray them - not from what they really are. We are influenced by a mixture of folk tales, religious believes and superstitions. Fortunately we are bigger and smarter than that. Right ?

Serpents are also a very important link in our ecosystem. They eat a variety of foods in nature, but if you were to invite a snake for a dinner, probably the most appreciated item on the menu for them would be a rodent. Now, please think about it... We try to keep our households free of mice an rats. The same way snakes are one of the creature which keep the population of rodents in nature down ! Actually, they do the same work as other admired by us animals, like eagles for example !

I can understand why some people might not appreciate snakes. They seem to be slimy and have no eyelids. I can see that.. But then, we are the ones who are supposed to be wise and understanding. The way snakes are is nothning more or less, but their way of adopting to the changing environment over the millions of years of our earths history. That's all. And we shouldn't forget that we might not look very appealing to aliens if they happen to visit us one day ! Would we want them to start killing us just for that reason ?

So, here is an image of the tail on one of my snakes, a python from South East Asia. Snakes have been given a bad name in Christanity. They were connected to our 'first sin' and we seem never to get over this bad image. When I saw this image on the tail on my pet snake I thought - wow ! It almost seems like too much of a coinsidence. I would expect an image of St. Mary holding baby Jesus anywhere but a tail of a snake.

They say that God works in mysterious ways. His messages come in many forms and shapes. Perhaps that's exactly where the image was supposed to be - on the tail of a snake. Maybe we are being told a story ? ... Perhaps one in which we can appreciate our differences instead of drawing animosity from them. I am not a Christian and I am not a religious person, but letting my fantasy go I can't ignore the message my snake seems to be brings to me... Would it be a magical connection and unity of all the living creatures ?... If this is the one, then if I had just one wish given to me to fulfil, it would be that it will not get lost on anyone ....

This is him. Can you recognize the image ? There also seem to be a star above, a star to guide us to solvation, perhaps ...