With the recent shark attacks on North Carolina beaches, those of us of a certain age surely can hear the Jaws theme music in the background. However, it turns out that sharks are not the most dangerous animal for humans.
The big danger is actually small: bees, hornets and wasps. According to a June 16, 2015, Washington Post blog post, sharks kill about one person a year—about the same average rate as bears and alligators—but those pesky little flying predators are “responsible for 58 deaths each year—mostly due to anaphylactic shock after a sting.”
In fact, cows are 20 times more lethal than sharks, because that’s about the number of people (mostly farm workers) killed by those stealthy bovine menaces annually. Dogs kill about 28 people a year, but I’m still not going to substitute Bessie for our family canine. Snakes (six deaths a year) and spiders (seven a year) are also on my watch list.
I suppose it’s a reminder that the biggest dangers in life may not be the ones we were expecting.
So pastor, keep your eyes peeled for those bees and cows…and maybe deacons.
Blessings!
Michael Duduit
mduduit@salempublishing.com
www.michaelduduit.com