Gila monsters & black spiders, would you?

Question

The Gila monster is a lizard, with bright beadlike rings of scales in black & orange that glitter in the desert sun. Commonly thought of as beautiful. Would you kill it, run from it, or let it go its way?
The spider is large, black & has furry legs, commonly thought of as ugly. Would you kill it, run from it, or let it go its way?

EDIT!
This is of great SIGNIFICANCE to the hidden perspective of my QUESTION.

[m] last sentence: "doesn't 'gila' mean 'mad' in indonesian?"

Gila (pronounced "Hela") is from Gila, a river in Arizona; the Gila monster is found in the desert regions of the southwestern U.S.

[m] I'm not being critical of this answer/question, but at the end, perhaps you'll see whay I felt it necessary to comment.

Many of you have said you'd let them go their way; loved Moon's added touch: "if /when they wanted to come to me"

Fr.Al>With your always enjoyable anecdotal additions

Bemo>WHY would you kill the spider?

Plant>WHY would you fear the spider I described?

mac1hull>WHY/HOW "icky"?

The Willsta
cmilja>Pragmatic--in self defense

Taylor>Options were for subjective responses

OmnisArs>You KNOW they're dangerous

Thanks all but the apple for your input.

Kate, K & Gaz--later...

shahbarak, later, too!

Kate>"...it's silly to kill what you fear." ++ for analogy of the clown. (Sounds like a good title for a book, To Kill A Clown-just my weird sense of humour! They "spook" me, too.)

shahbarak>"..the gila monster is poisonous. A black spider might or might not be." (Having knowledge to measure judgement.)

K>*****Yours was the first answer that comprehensively answered my question. Excellent philosophically & psychologically. The details further focused on the responses I'd hoped to evoke. A true & budding Ph.D!

flutterbtpurr>Would you pit one against the other? (This was my latest answer & it's time to close or the "community" may choose the apple.)

Answer 1

Lizards, snakes, spiders....all creatures are a part of life and all deserve respect and deserve Life. To respect these creatures we should understand them and the role that they play.

To thus fear any creature is to not understand them or their role but to perceive them as "ours to control" and leaving no room for "they are to be respected"..

From a Buddhist perspective, all creatures whether dangerous, beautiful, ugly or otherwise deserves such respect and deserves through reason of existence to be allowed such validity to Live. Do we ourselves not deserve such validity..? Thus each becomes part of Life which we share with them.

/smiles/.. for the more dangerous of these creatures, understanding them helps us to reasonably stay away from the sharp bits.../smiles again/..

It is we who inhabit their domain, when they intrude into ours it is to find a safe new home. It is when the more dangerous intrude thus, that we should be prudent and discourage them their curiosity. There is no need to kill what is no threat. To brush a dangerous spider back outside is enough to discourage it. To leave a dangerous spider inside would not be wise. To see a Gila Monster in its natural habitat then to leave it alone also a wise choice.

Even ugly spiders and bugs are not ugly to each other. To fear because of a perception of ugliness, to a Buddhist is fear without basis, yet to fear a danger then to act to remove or neutralise such danger is wise.

If a dangerous creature is encountered, especially if it poses a threat, then it is only wise to remove it and even wiser to return it to its natural habitat. It is only prudent to be aware of and remain clear of its weapons.

Peace from a Buddhist...

Answer 2

These are easy. The Gila monster is poisonous, but a back biter with venom in the rear of mouth. It seldom bites humans, preferring to avoid them. It's built for killing rodents, snakes, and other small prey. It has some of the most beautiful colours seen in any lizard. I would appreciate it and let it go its way. When I was four down in New Orleans, I brought my mommy a pretty shiny black bug I found behind the refrigerator, holding it up so she could see the pretty red markings on its stomach. When she screamed I let it go and it quickly ran away, I think she scared it. The outhouse at my Grandmother's in Southern Illinois might constipate some folks. One gently opened the door so as not to disturb the poison ivy hanging over the top, gently reached into the corner bag of lime using the scoop to brush away the nest of black widows above it and taking a scoop of lime slung it in the hole under the seat to drive out the hornets nesting there and cover the smell from below. You could then sit down and read the Sears catalogue while finishing necessary business, There was the option of using soft corn cobs or a page from the catalogue. Wash up would have to wait for the kettle on the kerosene stove in the kitchen with water drawn by bucket from the well and brown soap made from lye and old drippings. It was a gentler time in many ways with few fears or stresses. I miss it.

Answer 3

I'd let them both go.

I don't think I'll ever find gilas on my walls like I do with spiders, so it's kind of a moot point where they're involved.

When I find spiders in my home, I only kill the dangerous ones [I've found a couple of brown reclusives -- very, very scary]. The others I just ask to stay out of my way and avoid scaring me, and they seem to be listening to me.

Interestingly, I've concluded that Daddy Long Legs are curious about humans. My last home had a lot of them, and they would often drop down on webbing about two feet away from where I would be sitting, stay there for a couple of minutes, and then go back up to the ceiling. They were either curious about the giant [me] or trying to decide if I was worth tackling for food. :-)

Answer 4

I understand the Gila monster is poisonous. A big black spider might be or might not. I'd expect to meet a Gila monster outdoors somewhere. So, if it was offering me no harm, I'd just watch it until it was gone on its way and then I'd go mine. The same holds for a spider. But if I found a spider in the house I'd admire it and probably try to collect it safely and let it go in the garden - and if it couldn't be persuaded, I'd regretfully kill it. Outdoors is THEIR place as much as mine. But my house is my place, and I try to keep it safe, for me and mine, especially the grand-kids. I'm a territorial animal! We've all got to live as best we can, though leaving as small a footprint as possible.

Answer 5

Fear lies within not without. And, conformist beliefs? Well, I suspect the IQ of group-think is likely comparable to that of a rock. Personally, I believe I am sound-minded enough to not kill (!) using my own irrational fear (of appearance, no less!) as a measuring stick or that of the “majority”. Frontal lobe developed just fine thank-you very much.

Murderers come in attractive packages though and living 'angels' in ugly ones too. How irrational to fear what is personally or socially deemed unattractive. Does irrationality become more sensible by sheer numbers? How can anything in life be visually unattractive when we are psychologically and physically all part of a common distribution? Funny how many of us make judgements on appearance, every day, knowingly or unintentionally (?) though.

No harm, no foul. Unless fear is justified, that is, my family’s or my own safety is at risk, live and let live, I say.

Individuals are leaders, the majority mere followers. Fear without rationality is a poor lead-in to action.

EDIT: Ok, ok, read your question over with a new perspective....So, here is my alternate answer:

As a society we conceptually "kill" anything at either extreme, beautiful or ugly. We put murders in jail, we look at "pencil thin" models in disgust, we "care" to no end about the continued existence of rare animals.

Emotions; like, awe, fear, jealously, disgust, insecurity, are instictual majority defined and perceived reactions to extremes, "black and white"...each carrying negative societal connotations or consequences.

But, the contradiction is we are all swayed to BE in the extremes...we're hypocrites...in some form or another. Murderers are looked upon with disgust, and thrown in jail, but we make movies about them and are entertained, we feel models are too thin, but we starve ourselves or buy clothes that they wear, we realize we have killed animals due to faulty perceptions, yet we keep killing them to extinction or near extinction anyway (for both their beauty --e.g., fur, and out or irrational fear --e.g., some wolves).

We kill what is too beautiful or too ugly. Anything outside of "grey"....but, in some form or another we all fit (or want to fit) into the same mold we "kill".

I'm probably going wayyyy too far here. Couldn't help the edit. Frickin' clever question making me think :-)....

Answer 6

I would have respect for it and let it go on it's way. There is no reason to kill it. No reason to run, either, if all it is doing, is just going about its natural bussiness. The majority of the time these creatures are more afraid of you, than you are of them. There is a defense mechanism that is triggered by fear, which can cause the one who is afraid to blindly try to defend itself in a violent manner out of fear. I think most animals can sense this, which is why when they sense the fear in humans, they become afraid themselves, and in turn become defensive themselves. Best to just let it go on its merry way. I have never beleived in harming any animal anyway. I am not a pest killer, if there is something unwanted in our home, I usually catch it and set it free in the back yard. They are not meaning to intrude or bother you, so there is no reason for harming them.

Answer 7

I would let both go on their way and sit, watching them pass me in awe of how amazing they are.

Sure, I may be afraid of spiders, but does that give me any right to kill them? I'm afraid of clowns, should I kill them too?

I think it's silly to kill what you fear. And every animal was put on the earth for a reason.

Answer 8

I would fear the spider and may smash him dead if I had the courage.

I would hope the monster is not inclined to attack or is poisonous. In as much as I have seen this Lizard before I would hope all is well with him and tread quietly away from Him

Answer 9

I would train the Gila monster to kill the spiders. I can't kill spiders myself as much as I need them killed.

Answer 10

I have nothing against spiders, snakes, gila monsters, rats, bats, cockroaches, or any other kind of icky thing.