It's a bird, it's a plane...

A funny thing happened at church last Sunday. We had a guest minister who was speaking about our fears and worries and how they limit us. She referenced Parker Palmer's story in The Active Life about going on an Outward Bound trip. When he was rappelling down a cliff, he got in a bit of a fix. The instructor told him it was time to learn the Outward Bound motto: When you can't get out of it, get into it! The minister continue by sharing the fears she had as she approached a pilgrimage in the Himalayas.

All of a sudden a women in the pew in front of me screamed out, "Oh, my God!" and pulled her feet up under her. She looked terrified and pointed to the floor. The woman next to her pulled her feet up. I picked up my handbag off the floor and put my sandaled feet on the hymnal rack. I was sure it was a mouse because the first woman was so frightened. My friend to my right said, "Is it a snake?" Just then an enormous roach, probably a Palmetto bug, skuttled under our pew on his way to the back of the sanctuary. A woman behind us said, "I hate roaches!" The minister, of course, had to stop for a few moments until things settled back down. Being good Unitarian Universalists, no one killed the roach because we believe in the interdependent web of all existence.

Ever since then i have been struck by the fact that each of us presumed the frightening thing was what we fear most; a roach, mouse, spider or snake. Isn't that just like us? We approach situations and relationships fearing the one thing that scares us the most and forget that others are frightened by different things. We miss the possibilities because we are so focused on our fear. I teased the minister at the end of the service, "You didn't plant that bug, did you?"