Yesterday, I was helping the staff to take the moringa leaves off the branches (we do this twice a week) in order to dry the leaves to make the moringa leaf powder that we sell as a vitamin supplement. I grabbed a branch and I noticed that it had an inchworm on it, so I pointed it out to my coworkers. You know, like, “Look at this cute inchworm guys!” Well, when one of the girls saw it, she jumped up and ran across the room. Now, I’ve come across this paralyzing fear of worms and caterpillars several times in Cambodia, and it always surprises me that out of all the creatures living here that these small harmless things are what make women scream or stand up on a chair. I mean, what about tarantulas or monster cockroaches or scorpions or rats (the things that I fear here)? Another friend shared with me that one time when she was a little girl she looked inside a plumeria flower and a small green caterpillar with black eyes was looking up at her and this experience was so traumatizing for her that the picture I had hanging on the wall of a plumeria flower made her uneasy.
To me, being afraid of an inchworm is laughable (I did laugh at my coworker), but I was thinking today about how in different cultures we fear different things and I wondered how people choose those things to fear (and then pass that fear down to their children and grandchildren). I am not just talking about insects or bugs, but about certain foods, taboos, spiritual things, etc. Then I thought about how some of the things that I fear don’t deserve the fear that I give them, especially seeing as how I am a child of the King. So, next time I am afraid to open up my mouth to talk to someone, I’ll have to remember that it’s just an inchworm.
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