Here there be monsters…

by bob strating¹

On ancient maps you’ll find that statement. Generally it’s at the far edges of the known world, far beyond the horizon. Places at the ends of the earth, just before you get to where ships might sail over the edge. Those are the places of monsters. Sometimes inhospitable islands and reefs that sank many ships were labeled on maps with the same designation to warn future sailors away.

Here there be monsters…

Just at the edge of our understanding, just like the ancient mapmakers. We, so enlightened, so evolved, also map out our own monsters. We are uncomfortable at sea? Let’s call this area the Bermuda Triangle. Here there be monsters. Can’t explain gigantic figures drawn in the desert sand in Peru? Or how ‘primitive’ Egyptians could build pyramids? Let’s say ancient astronauts in UFO’s did it.

Here there be monsters…

Global warming? Earthquakes? Famine? Flooding? Are these simply natural events or signs of the end of the world?

Here there be monsters…

Uncomfortable with death? Here we have ghosts, angels, demons and a host of other things which are not the things we truly fear. They are the monsters that we label that keep us preoccupied so that we don’t have to face the real fear.

Here there be monsters…

How about politics? We have monsters there also. We have a ‘vast right-wing conspiracy’. We have the ‘liberal media’. We have the ‘gay agenda’. We have the ‘neo-conservative fundamentalist Christian right.’ We have monsters aplenty. It’s easier to deal with monsters than people.

Here there be monsters…

And every one of us has our own maps with our own personal monsters on it. Trust issues. Commitment issues. Fear issues. Issues with the past. Issues with money, love, sex. Issues rife with danger. And those we love have to travel with us without ever seeing our maps. They discover the monsters as they surface. If we’re lucky they learn to deal with them and at the same time, help us to deal with them.

Here there be monsters…

But the truth is, for the most part, there are no monsters. There are only our own fears in various guises. Those places in our lives where the waves are uncomfortably high. Where the rocks are jagged and fierce looking. Where it’s easier to just step back, get out our maps, and scrawl along the margins…

Here there be monsters.

End note

1 In lower case letters, as the author explains “not for any real reason other than being influenced by e.e. cummings in [his] early writing years and avoid[ing] the shift key on a keyboard.”