I am afraid

As a kid I spent most of my elementary school years in Massachusetts and Connecticut. One of my favorite things to do was to play outside. My friends and I would love to explore. We collected pinecones and rocks, we made forts in the woods and would catch tadpoles, frogs, and snakes by the ponds. We would bring our collections home and put them in buckets. I never had a fear of walking in the woods or catching reptiles.

That all changed when a family of copperhead snakes moved into our yard. Copperheads are venomous. And that is when my fear started. To this day I am afraid of snakes. Even though I know most of them won’t ever hurt me, I am afraid. My automatic response when I see a snake is to scream and my heart rate goes sky high. Fear is my automatic response even though I know most snakes won’t hurt me.

This past week another black man was shot by police. He called his mom to tell her he was afraid. It was an automatic response.  What needs to change so that all people feel safe? Is there something that I can do, that you can do? Let’s take some time to ponder that this week.