ONE SUMMER AFTERNOON, as our kids played in our front yard in rural Georgia, a car stopped on the road; the driver got out, and we heard loud cracks. The children dashed inside as my husband, Michael, walked toward the stopped car. The driver, an older man, fired his handgun at something in the road. An older woman remained in the car. Michael asked the man what he was doing. The man said he stopped to kill a snake.
The wounded snake slithered into the grass across our road. “It’s just a black rat snake,” Michael said, “It’s not dangerous.” Michael told the man we didn’t want him shooting. The man seemed confused. He said he thought he was protecting our children from danger. Michael was firm. The greatest danger we perceived was the gun. “Well, we won’t help you anymore!” The woman said as they drove away.
The man with the gun, like many humans, has been conditioned to kill snakes. A small 1987 experiment in Kansas found that more drivers than not swerved to hit a fake snake in the road. Scientists are still trying to figure out whether humans have an innate fear of snakes or just a keen perception of them, rooted in survival instincts. Fear is often rooted in wisdom; some snakes can kill. But hatred of snakes in general, born of ignorance and reinforced by bad theology, can be unlearned.
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