FRIDAY THE 13TH, SEPTEMBER 13, 2024

 FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2024 - THINGS THAT GO BUMP IN THE NIGHT

FRIDAY THE 13TH SPECIAL

A car in my parking lot has a bumper sticker that says, “I’m not superstitious, just a little stitious.” While I find that amusing, I know some superstitious people.

An online dictionary defines superstition as “excessively credulous belief in and reverence for supernatural beings. “He dismissed ghost stories as mere superstition. 

It continued with this: “a widely held but unjustified belief in supernatural causation leading to certain consequences of an action or event, or a practice based on such a belief.” “She touched her locket for luck, a superstition she had had since childhood.”

People carry good luck charms, read (and believe) their horoscopes, and have all kinds of mannerisms reflecting a bias.  I don’t know much about ghosts, zombies, or other similar occurrences. 

I remember seeing basketball players making the sign of the cross before attempting free throws.  I view that as a mild superstition - or a small prayer. “God help me make this shot”.  While God loves us, I don’t sense he is in the basketball blessing game - anymore than in the granting of all the cancer prayers.  (Yes, I believe that God does answer prayers - but somehow with billions of people - many who are praying - answers all the prayers.

*****

So, I’m not freaking out today if a black cat walks near me; or a strange event happens. 

Today is another day to walk in LOVE and let LOVE win, not superstitions.

*****

But, there are still things to be afraid of.  Maybe not black cats, or zombies.  I was reflecting on scary things

REPTILES - SNAKES, CROCODILE, ALLIGATORS, AND MORE.

In the first Indiana Jones movie, Indy is scared of snakes.  While I have a healthy awareness of snakes, most snakes that I see (even infrequently) are not poisonous and probably good to have around.  They eat mice and other things.  

I did see a rattler who was rattling rather close once - and my friend and I got out of its way quickly.

BUGS

I grew up in Iowa where there weren’t any cockroaches.  I remember my first cockroach and I was terrified.  I was on an accreditation trip at a Little Rock, Arkansas, Hilton Hotels.  We had a long day and I was exhausted.  Then out of the closet came a cockroach.  I went to the office and asked to be moved.  (I was moved), but my dreams (nightmare) were of a thousand cockroaches crawling over me. I’m not sure how bad they are, but they do scare me.  I had one in my apartment two months ago, and I got traps and spray.  I did spray it and killed it!!!  I also closed the drain in the bathtub (somehow, my brain thought that the roach had somehow gotten in that way).

Mosquitos.  While I’m not scared of mosquitos, I wonder why God created them.

Scorpions. I haven’t ever seen one and hope I don’t see one.

MAMMALS:

Bigger and obvious.  Bears (especially Grizzley and Kodiak bears).  If I am hiking in a National Park that says there are bears, I won’t hike alone and won’t get off trail. 

Lions, Tigers, and big cats. I’ve seen the videos, but I’m not expecting to go on a Safari, so I'm not too worried.

Bison - Bulls - I have a health respect for bison and bulls. I’ve been upclose with bison in Custer State Park in South Dakota, and I won’t get out of the car to get a picture.  Common sense dictates safety.  And, no, I am not climbing over a fence into a field with angry bulls.  

Rats/mice. I’ve captured enough mice over the years in mousetraps. (Just a little peanut butter on the trigger). Rats—my only experience with rats came many years ago in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, when the Mississippi flooded, and rats moved into the crawl space underneath my rental house. My roommate dumped rat poison around the building and watched as the rats escaped, and he went “Rambo” with a baseball bat on them.  

Other living things can be deadly - and I try to avoid running into them.  

BE SMART and SAFE!!

LOVE WINS

LOVE TRANSFORMS

Karen Anne White, Friday, September 13, 2024