So many things — animate and inanimate — are toxic to us and the only intelligent stance is to keep your distance. Many dangers are not to be overcome but wisely avoided. There is a Native American story about a woman who befriends a wounded snake. She loves it and nurses it back to health. Then one day the snake fatally bites her. In shock the woman slumps to the floor and has the strength left to ask a single question, "Why?" The snake replies, "What did you expect bitch? I'm a snake."