Nothing strikes fear in my heart as deeply as the earthworm, who after the night-time rain falls in the softer climates, writhes pink and naked from rugged pavement towards the dark moist safety of the soil. A creature without eyes to see, or ears to hear that breathes through his skin and embraces both genders as one entity (even though they still have to mate with other hermaphodites to have babies). The earthworm is a true anomaly in the land of faces. A skinny sliding body who, if not careful, will be baked to a crisp in the noonday sun or be drowned in the puddles at the edge of the curb. The worm knows no fear and holds no malice; he simply knows without reason what his mission is. It is a very high calling to cultivate the soil for crops and gardens to grow and thrive. She is also in good company as there are about a million of them gliding around in the ground per acre of property. He is preyed upon by birds and mammals, and even man will try to catch him as bait for fish, and his only defense is to try to glide away and wiggle fiercely. It's not that she doesn't have a heart, she has 5-10 aortic arches that function as a heart that allows her little body to swallow mountains of dirt and change it into a nurturing compost. No one thinks much of her as she glides silently through her dark quarters, and gardeners and children alike pull and throw her tender body. But lowly he may be to the visitors who tower above, and unknowingly or unwittingly step upon and squash his very being, he is a true child of the Earth ( an Earth who pets him as he dutifully blesses her bounty). Am I afraid of him, this segmented mantle of flesh whose only defense is a writhing dance? Or am I afraid for her as she meekly seeks her way back home, exposed in a dangerous world of scavengers? Or do I see myself as a lowly worm, crawling for a long forgotten place in the Garden and sense my mission is futile (as the snake has told me)? Since I don't quite know what it is about that worm that frightens me, perhaps I'll just have to watch, learn, and try to understand.
