Cultural Faux Pas

Yesterday, while visiting the home of a friend, I noticed that the women and children in the family where all gathered around the back of the house, looking under the eve of the roof. Very soon I noticed what was the object of everyone's attention: a small bat about the length of my index finger. It was a cute little bat, hanging upside down as cute little bats tend to do. My curiosity was the subject of both discussion and entertainment. My friend's younger cousin explained that I should not get too excited by the bat's presence, because just before I noticed the bat, they were about to kill it (by means of beating it to death with a long metal pole, and if that didn't work, by spraying it with hair spray and lighting it on fire). I was a bit mortified! I placed myself between them and the bat, doing my best to recall all of those interesting little factoids I'd picked up during my days as a volunteer (Jr. Zoo Crew member) at the Atlanta Zoo and on the Nature Chanel.

• Bats are generally harmless
• Bats help to control the insect population (which is a plus for me, because I don't have an appreciation for insects)
• Just one bat can catch hundreds of insects in an hour
• They aid in the pollination of some of our favorite fruits and veggies: figs, dates, peaches, mangos, bananas, etc.

I knew that I started running out of reasons to spare the poor bats life when I finally said, "but he's so cute!" Finally, I offered an alternative: What if I tried to shoo the bat away with a stick? My friend's aunt shook her head (as if to say, "you silly little American"), but she allowed me to give it the old college try. Well, I think that I made the situation worse when the bad crept even farther under the roof until it was out of sight. A look of terror came across everyone's face. I was quickly told that the bat was intentionally sent to their house by someone in the community to do harm to the family. It would sleep all day, and in the evening, it would wake up and do it's dirty work. I was told that bats rarely ever go anywhere alone, and because this one was alone, that was a sign that it was no ordinary bat.

My friend's mother and aunt tried poking the bat out of it's hiding place. Finally, the hole was plugged up with wet sponges in hopes that it would suffocate.

I was torn. Part of me rationally knew that this bat was simply minding its own business by catching up on some sleep. The other side to the story is that my friend and his family really believe that they would suffer as a result of this bat's presence. It's not like me saying...step on a crack, break your mother's back...or don't break a mirror or you'll have seven years of bad luck.

Feeling kinda bad, I asked my friend if my actions were going to harm his family. He said that his family just thought I was funny because I didn't understand. I asked about the consequences if I did understand. He said, "that would be bad, very bad!" In this particular situation, I was happy to be an uninformed American.