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Peter Alsops SONGS TO CHEWAnd now, ... we're here! 50 years of songs, poems & and videos with laughter, life lessons & music that have been helping folks live better for years. Glad you're here too! Author: Peter Alsop
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Was St. Pat Scared?
Tuesday, 17 March, 2026
It’s St. Patrick’s day again! How wonderful that stories we learn growing up can change and inform us as we grow older. The Irish myth about St. Patrick, ‘ridding Ireland of all the snakes’ is a wonderful place to start this discussion. We humans have taken over most of the world by eliminating any other creatures who threaten us or our expansion. It’s ‘fear’ that drives us to completely wipe out other living species, rather than finding ways to share space with them. It’s our mostly male ‘binary ways’ of coping with an ‘all-or-nothing’ dilemma that we face. There’s too much pressure to have to choose, we don’t know what else to do, so we pick one simple answer and hang onto it, no matter what.Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, was a real person who lived in the 5th century. He came to Ireland to proselytize for Christianity. One of the biggest myths about his ‘story’, is that he drove all the snakes out of Ireland and into the sea. The fact is that Ireland never had any snakes for St. Patrick to banish! The event that prevented snakes from living in Ireland, was actually the Ice Age that ended 10,000 years ago. When kids hear this myth, they ask, “Did he have to get rid of ALL the snakes?”I’ve learned that we can let go of our binary mandates, and not have to throw out the whole delicious story. We can hold onto parts of old stories like this. We can appreciate and celebrate with our community the stories we grew up with in our lives. And, … we can alter some of the untrue details in our stories, and add some of the important nuances we’ve learned from living through life’s hard lessons. When we’re not afraid, if we learn how to behave in less violent, more caring ways than what we learned from listening to old stories, then, … when we are afraid, we will know some healthier, more effective ways to proceed. As the song says, “we can crush all the spiders with books, y’know, but killing them’s kind of a crime, ‘cause all life is sacred!” WAS ST PAT SCARED?St. Pat drove the snakes out of Ireland A7-D-A-DTho’ snakes are God’s creatures too G-DAnd they probably scared St Patrick a bit G-DAnd they might even frighten you E-ABut getting rid of all the snakes D-A-DWon’t make your fear go away G-BmIt puts it off for awhile G-DBut your fear will come back some day, some daaaay A-Bm-GYour fear will come back some day D-A-D-A7So you go somewhere else and get frightenedMaybe by spiders this timeYou can crush all the spiders with books, y’knowBut killing them’s kind of a crime.Cause all life is sacredIn my heart, I know it’s trueThese animals just are trying their bestT’stay alive like we do, we doooTo stay alive like we do.When you kill the things you’re scared ofYou loose what you need to exploreTo learn t’grow and be strongerTo stop being scared like beforeSo if you hate spiders and snakesThere’s one thing that is clearIf you kill ‘em or crush ‘em or chase ‘em awayYou never get rid of your fear, oh noooo!No, you never get rid of your fear.Those creatures are here for a reasonGod made ‘em and He’s no foolWe can’t avoid Life’s lessonsWe learn that at home and in school.So don’t copy old St PatrickWho never conquered his fearGod didn’t make this world for just usPeople living here, my dear, noooo!It’s for all the creatures here!St Patrick just felt frightened of D-A-DWhat us other creatures do G-BmSo give us a break! Don’t be frightened of me G-DAnd I won’t be frightened of you, of youuu, nooo! A-Bm-GGive us a break! Don’t be frightened of me G-DAnd I won’t be frightened of you! A-A7-DWritten by Peter Alsop, ©Copyright 2007, Moose School Music (BMI)‘OnGrow It At Home’ - www.peteralsop.com That story about Eve and the Serpent and the Apple is a delicious allegory with lots of hidden messages, but the reality is, … ‘If we don’t take care of our ‘Garden of Eden’, we won’t get to stay!’Thanks for stopping by. Please share this post with anyone who might find it useful!Check out Peter Alsop’s SONGS TO CHEW audio podcast by clicking here! Or if you’d like to hear any of my albums or see my dvd’s go to: https://peteralsop.bandcamp.comTo send me a comment, sign in as a Substack member by clicking the Subscribe button. It’s free! And you can always email me at peter@peteralsop.com. Peter Alsop’s Substack is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.I’d love to hear from you! You don’t have to be a ‘paid’ subscriber to get my posts. Everyone gets ‘em, … some folks send in money to support my work. In either case, glad you’re here! Thanks for spreading the word! Bye for now!Peter Alsop’s Substack is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Peter Alsop’s Substack at peteralsop.substack.com/subscribe
