Nico (right) and Christopher enjoying Christmas early. Nov. 2016
November 24, 2016
I bought Nico and Christopher an ant farm last Christmas. This week, our order arrived! Uncle Milton, the company, is not a crazy family member. Mailed our order that we placed back in March. Better late than never. I didn't know much about farming ants, so I had a chance to Google the process and learned!
I ripped open the package, expecting ants to scatter everywhere! But thankfully, the ants were in a secure, transparent tube with tape fasted on the edges. Those ants looked menacing. They were rabid and ready to stretch their legs.
The ants were full of activity. Seeing them inside that 4-inch tube is pretty cool. I could only imagine how it would feel to swallow that thing like an aspirin. It was easy to think of all sorts of horrors one could do with those ants. Yikes!
I poured the vile as if it were a pitcher of water. As I tilted the plastic tube, the ants dumped inside. Nico and Christopher watched them scatter like leaves blowing in the wind. The ants didn't think about their actions now that they were freed. Their natural instincts took over, and the ants did what God intended them to do: adapt and survive in their new environment.
The ants immediately assessed their situation and searched for the best place to begin their new life. Once they settled on a plan, I watched them regroup with each other into their designated positions and get to work.
One found the pre-made holes I made for them and immediately began to dig its way inside. Other ants soon joined in and helped dislodge and relocate the little green gel pellets he cut loose. The other ants looked around, searching for other pre-made holes. They found the 3 different holes, and they quickly got to work.
Within hours, the holes got deeper and more comprehensive. The length plunged towards the bottom and then horizontally in the green gel as they dug deep inside. The other ants did the same. They built and created a new home. It took time and patience, but they adapted and survived.
Their determination to plant their roots and make a new home impressed me. These ants were cultivated in some lab and then displaced from a world they only knew. They were shoved in a smaller vile. Mailed. And then removed again from their safety and placed into another overwhelming home. But they did what they did to survive because failure meant death, and their instincts weren't made to die but to live.
We, as humans, can learn from all forms of life. Here, these ants are in the lowest realms of life. They are almost insignificant in the afterthoughts of other living things. In an instant, their life can be ended by the human hand's swat, yet they preserve. They want to live and be productive in their short life spans.
I learned much about ants and how they relate to the human spirit. No matter where we are in life, there are no excuses as to why we can't be successful in what we do. Humans are intelligent, self-aware, and have the ability to rationalize. I may not have known much about ant farming before I bought them, but I know enough about them now to know that in my own life, I will keep fighting no matter where life uproots me. My lesson was more than just an ant farm.
** Today is an American holiday. Thanksgiving. I am thankful for my new life. I am grateful for the people in my life. I am thankful for a job that supports my family. I'm also grateful that I have thousands of people who read about my life after all these years! Happy Thanksgiving to everyone who celebrates.
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Captain Imperfecto going to training. Nov. 2016.
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