NOCTURAL NOISES

My French boss was recently awoken by strange sounds in the night. “There is a ghost in your apartment?” I gasped, but it wasn't. It was a gecko which he rescued from his bathtub because, despite its sticky feet, could not climb out of the slippery bathtub on its own. So Stephane scooped it out using a cardboard, and released it. “And it has been haunting my kitchen ever since,” he said.

"You didn't kill it?"

"No, it's harmless and it keeps the apartment free of insects."

Compassion and coexistence.  Things that his father thought him since he was a kid.

Growing up in Corsica, Stephane's father showed him how to trap lizards by loop and knot method using a piece of weed.  Stephane recalls that he and his siblings kept more than one lizard at a time.   They would plant a stick firmly into the ground of their backyard/garden and tie their "pets" to the stick.  There the reptiles would stay, feeding on insects that flew by.  After a day or two, they were released, unharmed. 

This week, I was in Stephane's apartment when he was travelling.  I sent him an email teasing him, "If I see Gecko, I shall KILL it."

"Nooooooooo!" came the instant plea for the lizard's life.

Fortunately, Gecko and I did not meet.

Noises in the night and house lizards.  I'm terrified of both.  Regrettably, my father's motto towards lizards is "Kill On Sight".  Lizard and human do not coexist in our kitchen.

What kind of legacy do you want to leave with your kids?  Would it be Empathy and Understanding, or Ignorance, thus Fear?