Did you ever see a bunch of ants in your back yard tugging at a piece of candy?
The ants are so enamored by the candy they never notice the vast and infinitely complex world going on all around them.
A few of these crafty critters get on one side and start pulling it one way. Then the next. All have the goal of taking nourishment back to the Queen. All play their part in the story. None seem too concerned with what the ants next to them are doing.
Ants, unlike humans, have perfected working together.
Humans spend much time fighting, kicking and screaming about many things on Earth. Things which seem so monumental. While often elevating trivial things, we sometimes devalue the vital ones.
Even though ants work in seemingly perfect harmony, they have no idea what’s going on just a few blades of grass away from the candy. Let alone in your back yard. Your town. Your nation. The world. The Universe.
We humans too often are just as shortsighted.
Staring down at these amazing creatures, we’re in awe at their ability to accomplish great tasks in spite of their limited size.
To the Ants, the present Candy is all that matters. They couldn’t be more oblivious to the “real” world. The world of that six-foot shadow-caster standing over them. They have no idea what that larger-than-your-average-ant thing even is. Let alone its purpose, complexities, hopes, dreams, morals, beliefs. Or, more importantly, what television shows it will be watching later in the evening.
Ants take no stock in the stock market. They don’t struggle with love and marriage. Their checkbooks needn’t balance. Where to go on vacation? Not an issue.
Only the Candy.
It’s all-too-often the same with us.
We are so involved with our “Candy” that we, today more than ever, are just as oblivious to things in life that really matter. We step over dollars to pick up dimes. We major on the minors. We ignore fellow ants, yet we brood over the magnificent anthills they create.
We even go so far as to kill other ants so we can have some of their candy. We don’t like the fact that they built their anthill where we wanted to build ours.
(Granted, those “other” ants look, act, talk and dress differently than us. And we are, after all, the ants who really see things the right way….)
Well, I want our children to have a better world. And in doing so, I want the world to have better children. Ones who can see beyond the Candy. Who take good care of their fellow ants.
We must wake up and see that there is more to this Back Yard than we think. More than just a little bit of sweet stuff that will at best, last a short time and satisfy a fleeting desire.
It’s possible that in your life, your Candy may have gotten in the way. Mine certainly has more than a few times.
I hope you’ll take more notice of the other ants. Even those different from you. Especially the ones different from you.
Join me in laughing a little along the way. While thinking seriously about what really matters in this wonderful life we’ve been given. What really matters.
Hey, did I just see you peeking over that blade of grass?
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