Life Lessons from a tiny little Creature!

Well, today, I was literally bowled over by an array of a wonderful colony of ants, and i thought of jotting down my observations in a nutshell to ignite the spark in us all!!!

'All about An Arresting Army of Ants', could be a tentative title!

And nope, this is no ‘sermon on the ant’, - just an observation!

What a Wonderful Lesson they teach us – Humans!

worker ants standing 'guard'

It all happened last night, when I decided to open the French windows for a whiff of fresh air into the living room on a ‘hotty summer’y eve at that, which spontaneously spurred a couple of beetles to surreptitiously ‘drone’ themselves into the house!

Truanty trespassers that they were, I swiftly plunged into ‘fight’ mode and quickly brought down these ‘mosam twosome’  - a furniture beetle and a carpet beetle, with one swat [a handy newspaper doubled up for a weapon].  After these two little insects came down the floor and having made sure that their ‘hickety-rickety mustachios' had bitten the dust, I left them there, and the shikari shambu within me was exulting over my prize catch, going gaga over it, with some triumphal air, and soon, sluggish that I was, I quietly went about doing my other chores, forgetting all about my ‘game’!

Well, for those of you who might confuse ‘game’ with the Rio2016 Olympic Games, Game or quarry is any animal [or insect] hunted for sport!

Coming back to the story: This morning, while doing some chores, to my utter disbelief and surprise – I saw these two ‘martyrs for a boss’, (not cause!) being lifted up – higher and higher – by a colony of ants - hectically foraging here and there - to get these two ‘grand delicacies’ into their storage reservoir – where they are finely granulated before being shelved in their granaries for their sumptuous winter repast or banquet!

The amazing ‘swarm intelligence’ of these colony of ants, made me wonder at their resilience and at their non-stop-ever-active vibes that they exhibited without a moment’s rest! Not one ant was slothful or sluggardly.

Now, while around ten of these ants were standing motionless for about a minute around the pathway where the huge ant colony was ‘heave-ho’-ing their prize catch with resolute determination, some other ants, were studiously taking turns at guarding the vantage points [as you can see from the video for yourself!].

One big ant, [I suppose it should be the queen ant] comes and motivates the other ‘worker ants’ in quick succession, and soon, these two giant insects – must be atleast 40 – 50 times their size – were being easily shoved into the little crack within the walls! [where the cement plaster had neatly tapered off to their great luck!]

How true are the words of King Solomon, when he says, “Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest” (Proverbs 6:6)

I wanted to take time to ‘consider their ways’, and with all eagerness and inquisitiveness, I proceeded to take a look at them to find out how amazing creatures they are, and the reams of wisdom that could be gleamed from their life and living.

  

The life expectancy of an ant is 45-60 days. Yet these tiny creatures accomplish much in their short life-span than we, humans do in a sixty years!

Laziness eventually leads to destruction. The ants are a paradigm of how we are to live. They work hard without any supervision whatsoever! They plan far ahead of their times – to save for the winter!

I found out that ants always tend to be working, and were never sluggish or soamberi or slothful. And literally, NO ONE was prompting them, cajoling them or coaxing them to do what they need to do! Wowww! an ideal example of true stewardship!!!

They either gather good food to support their future, or take time out to repair the breach in their ant hill.

This set me up on introspection mode! Am I keeping my eyes open for tasks that need to be accomplished? For example, if my room is cluttered, do I spontaneously take time out to clean it, or does someone [like a surprise visitor or parents or friends] have to act as a “guide, overseer, or cajoler” and remind me of my duties?

Worse, do they have to remind me repeatedly?

Whenever i feel the urge to give up or put off a task, I decided to tell myself: “Hey, sluggard, remember the ant! Learn from it! Consider its ways!”

Interestingly, Ants Teach Us A Lesson in HR too!

Performance with efficiency!

To perform efficiently, I need to have preparedness!

To be efficiently prepared, I need to plan efficiently!

Ants ain’t quitters. They are achievers!

through many dangers,

through turbulent disasters,

through non-stop disturbances,

They never quit! They just cant! And they just wont!

Many people think ants are irritant pests!

But but but! I beg to differ!

Yes, I’ve started loving them and started having a huge admiration for them!

Yea!!! A fan club is also in the offing!

To watch them, and to gleam rich thoughts from a tiny group of the formicidae family, is an amazingly rewarding experience!

More so because they are so busy ‘practicing’ that they don’t have ‘enough’ time to preach!

Made me rework on a quaint pithy saying of yore, thus –

The ‘awesomeness’ of the ant and the ‘awfulness’ of the human.

How true!