Lessons from and Ant

Ever since I was a little kid, I wanted an Ant Farm. I thought that I would stare at it for hours at a time and watch the little guys build their nests and burrow tiny holes into the dirt in a myriad of little connecting tunnels.

From many National Geographic specials, I’ve learned that ants are the hardest workers on earth. They constantly build and maintain their nests with utmost perfection. They separate little rooms intended for certain items and care for their dead by burying them into the walls of the room for emergency food and warmth.

Well, my dream of owning an Ant Farm came true when I found an unopened one at a garage sale. It contained everything needed (including a postcard for a vial of Ants). I sent the postcard into the company and 8 – 10 weeks later the Ants arrived. I quickly opened the vial and dumped the ants into the farm.

A few days later, the Ants started to make a tunnel on the side of the farm. It wasn’t a nice picturesque tunnel that was shown on the outside of the box, but a messy, unorganized and unimpressive mass of chewings with no purpose or form. Not only that, but I noticed that although there were over 24 ants in the farm, only 3 or 4 were actually working. The other ants kind of stood around licking themselves or sleeping. I would come along and shake them up a little and they would move around a bit, but after I left the same lazy ants would stop working. I started to become annoyed. I thought that Ants were the hardest workers on earth! Instead, they reminded me of people that I work with!

I also noticed that there were these two Alpha-Males that appeared larger and more handsome than the others and one small cute ant. The Alpha – Male ants were always hanging around the cute little one. They offered her little pieces of a Ritz cracker and would show off in front of her by wrestling with each other.

The instruction manual suggested that I put a dropper full of water in the corner each day. When I did this, all of the ants (except the 3 working ants) came over and drank the water. The trouble is that they wouldn’t leave the water site. Hours later, they still were drinking the water and conversing with each other while the 3 real working ants continued to chew at their unorganized tunnel.

I guess I just expected too much. I had expectations that the Ants were a highly developed species that worked together for a common goal, but instead they were just a bunch of lazy, no good, greedy, self-gratifying insects.