Friday, January 16, 2009

Ornithophobia, or one of many reasons why people think I'm nuts...

Birds flew into the engines of a plane, causing said plane to crash land in the Hudson River. No one died and there were no major injuries. I now have all I need to feel that my fear of birds is
completely justified.

I can’t exactly pinpoint when this fear of birds started or what caused it in the first place, all I know is that I have never been one of those people who runs happily towards a group of birds, making them all fly in different directions. I can’t even watch people do that. If I do, I get visions of myself being that person and having my eyeballs pecked out. It’s horrifying.

A lot of people say that it would be nice to be a bird. They say that it would be so nice to fly wherever you want and do whatever you want and all of that. I think that what comes with total freedom like that is something a little scary. Without morals and guidelines, then how can you control something dangerous? Also, it has been said that birds are not the most intelligent animals. We all know how easily and quickly stupidity can spiral into terrible things. That’s what birds are to me. They are something that cannot be fully controlled and are therefore scary. (Yeah, I know I'm a control freak. Whole other issue) With all of this freedom and the lack of intelligence, what’s to stop them from flapping their wings all around me so I can’t fight them off while they rip the flesh from my body with their beaks?

Domesticated birds don’t freak me out as much. I pretty sure it has to do with the fact that there is a cage between us, I don’t feel paralyzed by fear when I am within 10 feet of them. Non-flying birds (penguins, for example) don’t necessarily make me all warm and fuzzy inside, but I don’t fear them dive bombing me, knocking me unconscious.

I was reading an article on Yahoo! News about how accidents like these have increased. I am beginning to truly believe that birds are the new terrorists. They might not be as organized or as successful as others, but they lull humans in with their beauty and then do things like suicide missions into the engines of planes.

Who can really explain fears and phobias? Fears are not logical. It’s how to deal with them that matters. I might not be running through St. Mark’s Square in Venice, delighting in the fun of making all the birds fly around, but it won’t stop me from going to see the beauty to be found there.

Although, now my fear of flying is bubbling to the surface…

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

You should see the old Alfred Hitchcock movie "The Birds." ... or maybe not. It's good, but it will make you even more afraid of them.

~Beckie