Lessons From An Ant

Today I woke up really early with a foreboding feeling like my life was unfulfilled. I decided to take a morning stroll though the city and wake up slowly. There was a misty morning fog blanketing the city and the air was a bit cool and refreshing. Times like these when you feel like something is on your mind and you can’t seem to fathom how to carry it any further. I have been so angry lately where everything seems so insurmountable and my obsessive mind relentlessly going in circles unable to shake this feeling of well, hating the world. The only business open was a Starbucks so I went in and ordered a small coffee and then left Starbucks continuing my walk down main street. The homeless were out in full swing bumming spare change and I was not immune to their persistent banter.

About an hour into my walk I decided to sit on a park bench and contemplate life for a while. This was when I noticed a tiny ant trying to carry a giant piece of organic matter across what seemed like a huge expanse of brick sidewalk. I looked around an did not see another single ant or even an ant hill or dirt area anywhere. I wondered how this ant knew where it was even going along such an endless expanse. Yet there was this ant carrying this thing that was at least two times it’s own size. I could see it struggling and taking moments to rest. The going was extremely slow and almost futile yet the ant just kept on trekking.

The brick sidewalk seemed like an entire universe to this tiny almost infinitesimal creature. I thought about what was going on in the mind of this ant. Was there a starving family of ants awaiting the return? Were they depending on the sustenance the seemed almost unlikely to ever reach its destination? It amazed me the heavy load that one solitary ant could carry. That this ant could seemingly with only the energy of one soul accomplish so much. That such a tiny creature could have such energy of conviction was reassuring. That here I was vacillating and bound still in my own conflict yet this ant happily struggled along the way unhindered by this daunting task.

Then I though of my own universe and how seemingly small I am compared to the billions of planets, solar systems and distant galaxies. Then I looked around and noticed all of the things that the world had built. Cars, a network of streets and tall buildings. It paralleled this same conviction to carry and deliver to the world an effort far beyond one’s own limitations. I realized that an actualized life gives more than it takes in return. The energy of life is exponential when coupled with determination, commitment and desire.

How could an ant have more conviction than me? Here I am feeling broken and self defeated, yet there is this tiny ant happily struggling along with so much less to appreciate. By sheer scale and proportion I paled this day compared to this ant in my own duty to life.

I got up and left this struggling ant with its heavy load and somehow life did not seem as insurmountable. I learned from the determination of this tiny ant that life has the power to move mountains, we need only to allow the energy within to move with the fortitude of self resolve.

To think that an ant sees its own rewards in life worth overcoming the pitfalls of defeat, it behooves one to get back into the game and fulfill life’s call to duty. To haul the load and reach our destination with success, drive and determination. If a tiny little ant can do it, so can I…