My Thoughts XVI: Ants and Humans

“If You die today, what dreams, what ideas, what talents, what books, what music, what leadership, what voice, will die with You?”

I watch the Pharaoh ants I live with daily. They are so incredible; so determined, focused and relentless. They’re fearless too. I saw one walking around the kitchen sink yesterday as I was washing dishes and thought: “You’re brave to be walking around here. One swipe of my hand or one drop of water and that’s the end of You.”

I thought about the many ants that die when I take a shower sometimes. I pulled seven out of the bathtub the other day before running the water but I don’t always succeed in finding all of them and often one goes down the drain. I apologize. Not that it really matters I suppose. Sometimes I think to myself: “Well, I couldn’t save these two but I saved many of them in the past, together with a few queens. That easily counts for hundreds, if not thousands of newborn ants. I can’t give too much thought to two lost ants.”

Then, the question arises: are some ants expendable? Are some humans expendable?

Like ants, many of us live in high density groups. Many of us engage in daily work, with specific duties. Ants do that too. In many ways we are like the ants I encounter every day around the house and like ants, nobody guarantees to us that we will see tomorrow’s Sunrise. Many of us will not, yet everything keeps going. Workers still go to work, queens still have babies, the colony, or society still keeps going. In some ways, it feels like the individual is dispensable.

We are not though. Each one of us has a role, whether we know it, or not. Even the hermit living on top of a mountain contributes to our existence as a whole. The hermit is a piece of the puzzle too. Nobody is expendable. The puzzle is only complete with every piece in it. Directly, or indirectly, we have an impact on one another; sometimes in life, sometimes in death.

I cannot help but see things from far above. It’s the Eagle-Vision. And when You are far above, You see how things connect. You see patterns. You see history. It is all pretty amazing: ants, humans, everything: the Great Mystery, Wakan Tanka. Nothing is expendable.