Thursday, September 29, 2011

Thoughts on commissioning ants to carry my fingernail clippings

After clipping my fingernails, I took a moment to bask in the feeling of accomplishment for a job well done. There were ants roaming about the tile floor and I had a flashback to when I smothered a small platoon of tiny scavenger ants feasting on one giant ant which I had previously smothered. I did not intend it as bait, and I'm not a cruel person, but cannibalism just doesn't sit right with me.
Anyway, I noticed a single ant lugging one of my clippings--about four times its length--but running into setbacks. For example, the nail's jagged edge was getting caught in the grooves between tiles and each time the ant had to reposition its grip to make any progress. Other times the size and shape of the nail hoisted the ant into the air like a child on a teeter-totter, but with no friend the ant had no counterbalance, and again, had to drop and regrip.
I said to it, "It looks like you could use some help."
I took the silence as frustrated agreement.
The next closest ant was wandering at a determined pace but was getting nowhere. It had passed the same barren route three times, four times. It was looking for something important to do but didn't know how. I stretched out my nail clipper and invited the listless insect to make a difference in its community. I held it close to the one carrying the nail so it could smell the sweat and desperation. The fresh legs were a welcome boost and I immediately ferried on my clippers a third, fourth and fifth ant to the delivery crew.
The cargo was hot. Already six of the ten clippings had been discovered and were en route to the whole--what seemed to me the front door into their home. By the time a nail got there, between five and ten ants were carrying it and five to ten more joined in the effort to slide it inside. Like super efficient movers getting a couch through a door frame, they spun and twisted back and forth until the perfect angle allowed them to enter. When it was all said and done in a matter of fifteen minutes, not a single clipping was left outside the walls of their fortress.
I don't know if they have nutritional value, but the ants were pretty excited. Maybe they're making bunk beds in there! <3

Sunday, September 4, 2011

As participants in a representative government...

...preparing for an election, what topics should be going through our minds and circulating in our discussions? What questions ought we be asking?

Human power schemes employ coercive tactics in your face and behind the scenes. Fascinating speeches woo the hearts of leaches, perpetually unsatisfied, gullible and self-serving. I'm speaking of the whole human species, broken and scattered into pieces. While these candidates dish promises the Lord of truth sets a feast, a meal to turn the tables of authority. Will you take a seat? See, a seed planted in good soil takes root. Sky cries, sun shines and the plant grows fruit. Votes when we already have a king seem moot. So and so's up for re-election, he wants the prestige and the loot. What's her face stole your money at gun point, she didn't have to shoot. Rise up, rebel, learn righteousness from a servant on a tree, practice jubilee! FORGIVE! Be who you're supposed to be! LOVE!