Bookworm

You may find it surprising, but as a boy growing older, I used to believe that being a bookworm was one of the preserves of the well-educated and nice people. It felt almost like an honour to be called one.

However, a bookworm, or 'library mouse' as it's referred to in Italian (topo di biblioteca), can also be viewed as a rather contemptible, unappealing creature that thrives on the cellulose of books or infests libraries.

At skul, it was competitive. Teachers were accusing each other of being bookworms whilst deep down holding each other in very high esteem for that same effort: the quest of knowledge. After all, someone who devours books is not always a slimy individual who triggers their feelings of revulsion by parasitically soiling them, or someone who gnaws at the electrical wires, or by all means not someone who farts so profusely to make the air sickly unbreathable.

We are not all the same.

In reality, there are some people who value the importance of worms in the ecosystem for their roles as decomposers and soil aerators. Others may keep mice as pets, while some may just be indifferent to their presence.

As we get older, we all become a little less tolerant, don't we?