All without taking your pants off!
You never can tell what’s going to scare some people.
For instance, I don’t find this the least bit scary:
It’s just a bug.
Okay, cicadas are a bit bigger than most other bugs you see on a daily basis, but not by any staggering amount. They’re harmless too.
But try telling that to some of my students.
One of my kids brought one of these to class last week. I thought it was pretty cool, but four of the six boys in the class were terrified of it. I’m not exaggerating either. This is what my class looks like on an average day:
See? Average group of boys mugging for the camera. Now, pretend that you’re going to toss a cicada at them….
Panic ensues.
I couldn’t figure out why they freaked so much. They were squealing and shrieking as they tried to get away, scared that it was going to fly over to their side of the room. I held it in my hand (as in the first picture of this entry), let it walk around and showed them that it didn’t bite.
They didn’t care.
I guess it just goes to show that irrational fears exist in every culture, and that we never can understand why people are freaked by stuff that doesn’t bother us in the least. They have similar reactions when I tell them I used to have a pet snake. (Not the screaming and running away bit, just the general revulsion.)It’s a bit late to start digging into their psyches – I’ve only got two weeks of classes left – but I’ll take the ideas this has given me to Japan.
I wonder what Japanese kids are scared of…. ^.^