Lessons from the ants - 1
This week I was in the gym doing a workout. While I was on the treadmill, I was watching a documentary on the TV. The program was
entitled: Weird, True & Freak. It revealed the world’s most unbelievable
and scariest animal encounters ever. It featured nature’s most terrifying
confrontations gone horribly wrong and in some cases animals fighting to
overcome obstacles, to survive in the circle of life. I was particularly intrigued by one segment that featured
“blue ants in the wild in Cambodia. A colony of ants was trying to attack a giant
millipede, which was many times bigger and stronger than the single ant.
Blue
ants work together for food and other resources. Once an ant sights a food resource
it goes back to the colony and communicates to the other ants via chemical
signals and all the other ants (soldiers and workers) will move together and recover
the resource.
The
millipede is a giant amongst insects. One would have thought that the ants were
no match for the massive millipede because of its sheer comparative size. I was
wrong.
The
ants worked with a strategy. They bit and hang-on to the millipede in spite of
the millipede trying to rebuff them off with a vigorous struggle. Hundreds of
them did the same thing to the millipede. To my bewilderment, the millipede
eventually succumbed. It was almost like a David-Goliath scenario.
But
all the work would have been wasted if the ants cannot get the millipede back
to the colony. Again they worked in a team to drag the huge creature in a
coordinated effort that resembled a tri-service joint military operation which
usually takes months to prepare. Even then “our joint” coordination is not as
meticulous and organised as what I witnessed with the ants. These ants did it
instinctively and were so well coordinated that will put any first class
military organisation to shame. It was a
huge success in the end.
I
was just stunned at how the ants eventually killed, and dragged the millipede
back to their colony. It was an impossible task for a single ant but as a group
they overcame the adversary that was so much larger than themselves. How did
this happen?
As
I was watching the documentary, I was reminded of the passage in the Bible
where the wisest King, King Solomon directs his readers to go to the ant and
learn from them:
- Proverbs 6:6-8 - Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! 7 It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, 8 yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.
There
are many lessons to be learned from these simple creatures. That
little ant episode reminded me of some important principles we, sometimes, take
for granted.
The
first lesson is personal.
1. All things are
not equal
We
live in a world where all things are not equal. Life has a different measure of
endowments that may appear unfair. Blame it on your parents or blame it on God
but that is the reality of life. In this instance the ant was much smaller,
less powerful, less potent, a midget compared to the millipede. The equation is
certainly flawed but that misfit did not decide the conclusion. The ants did
not allow their limitations to define them.
In our
own lives, we are all not equal. We all differ in our talents, abilities and
stature. Some are born with the silver spoon whilst others lament the obscurity
of their charter. Some apportion blame
on the gnome. [1] Richard Dawkins in his book, “River out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life”, commented, “DNA neither
cares nor knows. DNA just is. And we dance to its music.”
I
for one disagree with Dawkins but if what he says is true, we have only one of
two options to choose from. Either resign to one’s hereditary predicament (you
will be surprised how many have resigned to this fact) or do what the ants did:
rise above the circumstances and prevail beyond boundaries.
For a Christian, the the equation is tilted for the better because of the Holy Spirit that is in him. When God is on our side, nothing is impossible. All through the Bible, we see how inconspicuous people achieved great things, because they had God in they equation.
David is a good example of what God can do with a person who trusts Him totally. A young lad at 17, did what the whole army of Israel was afraid to do. Kill Goliath. David did.
- 1 Samuel 17:45 - David said to the Philistine, "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.
The world is full of
examples of people who were born with severe impediments but were never
complacent about their shortcomings. One
such person is Ludwig van Beethoven
[2]Ludwig van Beethoven (December 16, 1770 to March 26, 1827) was a German pianist
and composer widely considered to be one of the greatest of all time. His
innovative compositions combined vocals and instruments, widening the scope of
sonata, symphony, concerto and quartet. He is the crucial transitional
figure connecting the Classical and Romantic ages of Western music.
Beethoven’s personal life was marked by a struggle against deafness, and
some of his most important works were composed during the last 10 years of his
life, when he was quite unable to hear. He died at the age of 56.”
My takeaway –
Don’t let your environment, your physiological makeup or even your DNA define
you. How you react to these, defines you and your future. With God on our side, we are the majority. This is something we
must learn and teach our children and the next generation to follow.
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