Calling all ants

I want to get away with the irritating cliché that the world is the best place to live in, because apparently, it is the “only” place and we have no choice on the matter. What we have a choice on though is making the most out of it, but I see that less than few have made an effort in upholding such a task.

Everyday, people live like cats and dogs. It doesn’t really matter who’s which, we are still animals, savages, and more capable of killing than any animal could. It is after all where the word “war”, “chaos” and “weapons” originated. Yet when one of our very own companions are lost in battle, we sulk, eyes all red, bloodily seeking out revenge. What happened to saving the world? It is replaced by saving ourselves from the ultimate depression of losing a loved one, when in fact, we rob others of their loved ones as well. Thus the barbarian in all of us is unleashed, spreading like an epidemic that lost its cure. Isn’t it ironic? We were made to be the most gifted intellectual species in this planet, we multiply in order to nurture and educate more of those inferior to us, yet we are the ones gradually diminishing in kind, in our own hands to boot. There are a lot of things I don’t understand in this world, but this is one of the very few I do. Life is so very precious. Every person exists in the hopes that he or she may find his true purpose in making a difference. Yet once he is born, he is then exposed to the harsh set up the world has been under, thus he is left helpless and unable to fight the influence of his environment.

A friend of mine once told me about how man should live more like ants, living for the sake of the colony and the colony alone. As they walk stealthily along the sides of my study table, carrying the heavy load of bread crumbs on their backs, they have only one goal in mind and no one can thwart them from achieving it. They are dead set on bringing their catch of the day, to the small hill, the little sanctuary they have hidden somewhere in the garden maybe. I tried to squish one of them using my index finger. They disseminated, as if sensing the fear that they would be next. Yes, like humans, they also experience fear. But the difference is, the fear they have don’t cower them nor make them flee from their goals. The surviving ants simply stroll along as if nothing happened. The loss of one is always better than losing two or more. If they delay themselves by fussing over the corpse of their comrade they’d be corpses themselves. Thus, with their one goal in mind, they hasten to reach their little hill. And once they do, their colony is another step to flourishing again.