Today, I killed a Scorpion
One of the first fears I learned as a child was the fear of the scorpions and snakes.
My mother told of stories of the ‘Odogwu Ozalla’ scorpions sting. the intensity of the pain and though we lived in the city and there were no scorpions around.
I was mortally afraid of being stung by one.
Another fear she taught us or would I say passed on to me was fear of snakes.
She talked often about waking up to one slithering on the ceiling. Its shining skin the first sight she beheld as she opened her eyes in the morning. Sometimes she woke to a coldness around her feet and knew a young python was sharing her bed. This was in Obosi (my hometown) in the 70s and many houses did not come with great roofing or doors that closed firmly.
In my community the python ‘eke’ are not killed, they are worshipped so they are welcomed and greeted whenever they came around. She had to endure them until she left the village.
I once met a woman who told me she left Badagry and married the first suitor that came for her was because she wanted a way out, far from snakes. ‘ the only criteria for me was a man who didn't live in a rural area. I heard of how crowded Oshodi was and I was happy to live with my husband there, no swamps, no snakes.
Today as I was about to climb into my bath I saw a scorpion, albeit a tiny one, but my first instinct was to kill it, and I did. I used hot water and it was dead as the water hit it and its segmented tail responded to the shock of being hit by hot scalding water.
As watch it die, I thought how quick was to end its life. it rained a lot today. I am guessing that's why it found its way to my city apartment.
I have never been stung by a scorpion so i can honestly say much about the pain of scorpions sting. During my NYSC (National Youth Service Corps) year, in Bida Niger State, a Youth Corper who lived nearby was stung by what we at first thought was a scorpion, his screams woke the whole neighbourhood. I can still hear it when I remember that night. He passed out, out of shock and was hospitalized. It was in the hospital that we were told it wasn't a scorpions sting. Some other strange local insect. He later told us, the pain was excruciating but it was mixed with something else, all the tales he had heard about scorpions and their sting all stood out for him.
A few days after his incident, I saw one crawling in my room and I left my apartment for days out of fear.
When I was a teenager we went home to Obosi for Christmas and I was told that a python was nearby. I did not sleep a wink that night. No one touched pythons in my community so it is FREE to stay there till it got bored and moved. It was said to be 2 houses from our own house, my mother didn't go out till she heard it had moved away. Watching my mother agonise over the proximity of this animal cemented my fear of snakes.
I would have nightmares of them under my bed, coming out of of my anus when I went to poop. It wasn't funny.
Learned fear is usually hard to shake off. snakes are armless, limbless creatures that to go through life on their belly, live in dark and damp places and follow the odd light coming from your bathroom and you find them in your toilet bowl and start praying, binding and casting away. Imagine you were in that situation, wouldn't you learn to survive?
I still don't love snakes and scorpions, but I have learned to rethink my fear.
They say the best way to let go of a fear or phobia is to face it. According to an article by Sherry Amatenstein ‘ Earlier this year the journal Science published a study1 conducted by researchers from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) using mice that showed how the brain actually has to re-experience a fear in order to extinguish it. The rodents were initially put into a small box and give a mild shock. Over a long period, the researchers returned the mice to the box but didn’t administer shocks. Initially, the mice froze but with repeated exposure to the box, and no additional shocks, they eventually relaxed.
For humans repeated exposure to the event(s) that created the trauma can help the anxiety subside. For example, the treatment for fear of flying is often exposure therapy that involves slowly and repeatedly being exposed to the object that is feared in a controlled environment.’
This year I was able to watch a documentary about snakes for the first time. In the past,I 'll quickly change the channel or leave the room if its a place where I cannot influence the choice of content others are interested in.
Will I sit in a controlled environment with a snake? Or wait till i get stung by a scorpion? I think not. But I must confess that killing a scorpion was no small victory. I didn't run, I killed it.
