Give owls, cats and snakes a chance
A FEW weeks ago I changed my Twitter avatar to the image of an owl, to capture my nocturnal nature. I have been fending off disapproving messages about the “scary”, “ominous” and “disturbing” picture ever since. I have had to check the date a few times to confirm that the year is indeed 2013 and not 1066, with William the Conqueror heading for that small island with a tooth-whitener shortage that hallucinated it could rule the world.
I’m well aware of our past beliefs that were firmly rooted in mysticism and superstition. But this was when we still believed the Earth was flat and the sun was a hot ball the size of an orange that circled our massive world.
In our defence, that was long before we could read, write, conduct scientific experiments and use Google. So in England they believed you could cure blindness by braaiing an owl’s nest and applying the ash to afflicted eyes. The Greeks believed owls were reincarnated witches who went around sucking blood from babies (based, no doubt, on the high incidence of bloodless kids in the greater Athens area). In these parts, we believed that if an owl sat on the roof of your house someone was going to die. Considering that owls come out at night, I’m surprised we didn’t have someone stand guard to ensure no owls landed on the roof.
Those archaic beliefs are understandable when you haven’t studied zoology or quantum physics. What I don’t get is someone with access to Twitter (and, by extension, the worldwide web) believing that an owl is an “ominous” creature. It requires a Herculean effort to maintain such ignorance when one can click a button and discover what we have known for centuries; that owls are just birds, nothing more, nothing less. It is a classic case of snatching ignorance from the jaws of information.
I can almost hear ultra-sensitive people shifting uneasily and asking: “So what if people decide to hold on to their irrational beliefs?” After all, educated engineers over at Boeing and Airbus sometimes design aircraft without a row 13, right? Well, the obvious answer is that they do not design aircraft to be used by educated engineers, but to carry the same folks who ignore the internet in their pockets and ask people to remove owls from their Twitter avatars. But a far more important point to consider is that the unlucky 13 superstition, while hilarious (will row 13 crash in mid-flight while the rest of the aircraft glides to safety?), causes no harm that I can think of. What harm can emanate from believing that owls are evil? Well, I was intrigued last year when the City of Joburg mooted the idea of importing owls to Alexandra to fight a rodent infestation. If you have never seen an Alexandra rat, you are letting the best things in life pass you by. Last year I took a friend from the Cape Flats, Stevland, to an Alexandra restaurant and pub called Neh’s. When he got out of his car he saw what he insisted was a “little goat” in front of the place. The people of the area have even dubbed them Ventures, after the Toyota. I think you know how this story ends. The residents came up with all manner of excuses why the owl idea was a terrible one. But I suspect it’s all within the “ominous” creature realm.
Now, the next part will floor you. When most East Rand townships were first built decades ago, the municipality planted trees as part of the general greening effort that has made Joburg the largest man-made forest in the world. However, most of these trees ended up as firewood because people believe trees bring snakes to their houses. The municipality also brought in owls to catch rats, and these were also killed off to avoid death, I suppose. Cats are also frowned upon because they are associated with witchcraft. So there has been a systematic elimination of the golden trinity of rat-control predators — the owl, the snake and the cat. If it wasn’t so tragic, it would be hilarious. But rat infestation is no laughing matter.
This is why the president should appoint me minister of basic education. Instead of national anthems and nursery rhymes at school, I would make it compulsory for kids to chant, “Owls, snakes, cats do not bring bad luck. Superstitions bring bad luck.”