Fear is the cheapest room in the house.
I would like to see you living in better
conditions.
~ Hafiz
 |
| Along Came A Spider. |
A few weeks ago while
working my volunteer shift at Children’s Hospital Colorado, I received a special request
to sit with a little girl in one of the 9th floor rooms. Her parents were working and couldn’t be there; she had been alone for most of the day.
From the minute I sat down in that rocking chair, she curled her little body into mine and looked
up at me with those big eyes that seemed to say, “what now?” I suppose it didn’t matter because she already had what she most wanted in that moment—human touch can
heal in ways that medicine can’t—and so I searched my repertoire for anything
that might entertain and amuse.
I sang a few songs (amusing);
recited some limericks (entertaining), and then I came upon Little Miss Muffet
floating around up there in my memory bank. Remember that old nursery rhyme?
Little
Miss Muffet
Sat
on a tuffet,
Eating
her curds and
whey;
Along
came a spider,
Who
sat down beside her
And
frightened Miss Muffet away
~ Songs for the
Nursery (1805)
I’ve known this rhyme
for years, but as the words formed on my lips, for the first time, I thought
about the implications. The spider
merely sat down beside her and it frightened her away. Really? Arachnophobia aside, are we that easily scared of possibility?
It made me think about the
way we all carry fear in our hearts of some kind--real or imagined--for things that may never come to pass, yet in everyday ways we let those fears direct our
course. Like when we withhold our
opinions for fear of rocking the boat; or stick with something or someone that may not be best for our lives because we’re afraid of change; or when we choose
not to try something new because
we might not like it. But what
if we loved it? What if it changed our
lives in amazing and unforeseen ways?
What if that spider became Miss Muffet’s best friend and side-kick?
I once read that lurking
behind every fear is an all-pervasive thought of “I can’t handle it.” Yet
we’re so much stronger than we think--we CAN handle it--and sometimes by facing into our fears
instead of running from them or avoiding, we learn more about ourselves and what we’re capable
of doing, creating, becoming.
What
are we so afraid of?
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