The Insignificant Ant

Once upon a time, there was a man who was frustrated with life. This isn't uncommon. Frustrated people can be found anywhere and everywhere. We all get frustrated at some point or the other. But then, that is how a story always begins!

So, once upon a time, there was a man who was frustrated with life. There were many reasons for him to be so. He felt that he was failing at everything he was attempting in life. This was not limited to just work, but also relationships, balancing emotions and taking up a spiritual journey. His frustration made him anxious... and his anxiety increased his frustration. He tried devouring self-help books and listening to talks by spiritual gurus. His knowledge and awareness increased book by book and guru by guru. Yet there was something that was missing. His greatest asset was the staunch faith that he would find something that would inspire him and fill that void that he was experiencing.

One sunny morning, he was sitting leaning on a wall in his house, lost in thoughts when he saw a little black ant. An insignificant little creature restlessly running close to the base of the wall, trying to climb up. After a lot of efforts, it finally found its way up. It started climbing up, pausing at intervals, looking towards both sides and then climbing up again. The young man was carefully observing the ant. It was close to reaching the top when all of a sudden, it lost its grip and fell. It lay there for a few seconds struggling to get up. Just when the man thought that the ant must be in extreme pain, it gathered itself and started marching up again.

This scene reminded the young man of the story of the King and the Spider. The young man was impressed and decided to ask for some tips from the ant.

He interjected, "Hey little fella, that was impressive!"
The Ant, taken by surprise (that a human should talk to him) just stared back.
The young man, sensing the question in the Ant's mind, said, "What you did just did...getting up after a fall and climbing up again...that was impressive"
Ant: "What is so impressive about that?"
Man: "You did not let the fall affect you and stop you from climbing again"
Ant: "Why should it affect me? Its a part of my work. It happens to me all the time"
Man: "Precisely. You fail so many times, yet you don't feel dejected"
Ant: "What do you mean I fail so many times?"
Man: "I mean, each time you fall, you are failing..and you fall umpteen times. But what is fantastic is how you get up and keep striving towards success...just like the spider in that story"
Ant (confused): "Which spider? What story? What are you talking about dude?"
Man (surprised): "Haven't you heard the story of the King and the Spider, in which the Spider keeps weaving its web till it succeeds to make one?"
Ant (getting restless): "No, I haven't heard any such story"
Man: "Do you read any self-help books?"
Ant: "No"
Man: "So then you must be definitely attending the discourses of some spiritual guru."
Ant: "No... I don't."
Man (even more surprised) : So then, where do you get your motivation from? Do you a have a Success Coach?
Ant (perplexed): "Whats that now?"
Man: "Someone who can coach you to become successful."
Ant: "I really can't get a thing of what you are saying. What is 'becoming successful'all about?"

Man: "Look at what you have been trying to do. You wanted to climb that wall. Had you reached the top, you would have been successful. But you fell, which means you failed in your attempt to climb the wall. But you are up again now trying to climb the wall, which is why I admire you. And I have been wondering how are you able to get back to action inspite of the great fall. I have been failing too like you, but I find it so hard to get up sometimes, which is why I wanted to know your secret source of motivation."

The Ant heard it all patiently. He was then quiet for a while. The young man hopefully waited for the Ant to say something. 'Who knows, the Ant might just share his secret now.' thought the man.

Suddenly the Ant looked up at the man, and broke the silence.

Ant: "Well..the secret that you are looking for is that.."  The man's face lit up, 'Oh yes, he is telling me his secret now'
Ant: "there is NO secret."
Man (confused): "What? There is no secret? How is that possible? If you do not want to tell me that is ok. But you need not lie to me that there is no secret." The man had started getting irritated.

The Ant continued calmly, "Chill dude. I am not lying. There is indeed no secret. I live with a thousand other ants in an anthill nearby. That is my house and we are a very big family. All of us have our roles to play. Each one of us plays his or her respective role sincerely without interfering in anyone else's work. I am a scout. My role is to search and find food and then inform the worker ants to start collecting it. I also scout for new places to build anthills, should any calamity befall our home. So we all get up in the morning...head to work..do what we have to do and then get back home to our family and celebrate. But yes, in a way... we are different from human beings."

Man: "How are you different? Even we have families and homes, we try to work too so that we can celebrate. Infact we have a lot more things to take care of"

Ant: "Precisely. You guys have a lot more to take care of...and that is because you guys complicate life a lot more too!"

Man: "How is that?"

Ant: "Look at all those questions you were asking me...about success and failure..falling and getting up..it clearly shows that humans are extremely good at labeling things..labeling every little event of life. You labeled my fall as a failure. I didn't. You said that if I reached the top of the wall, that would be success for me. I didn't say that."

Ant continued: "For me, its just a part of being myself and doing what I should be doing... Scouting. I explore places..I run here and there, climb walls... and if I fall, I just get up and climb again. And when I reach the top of the wall, I continue to walk, searching for food and when I find it, I call my brothers. And then I keep going ahead till the end of the day. Once I am done, I go home and enjoy my life back there.

I cannot see success or failure in this process. None of us can. For that matter, I am sure that the spider you were talking of, was weaving his web, simply because he had to..thats a part of being a spider. He wasn't trying to prove anything to the world or feature in storybooks."

"You find it hard to get up because you attach a lot of importance to that fall. The labels act as gravity. We ants or spiders or the bees don't have labels. We enjoy being ourselves and just do what we have to do."

The young man didn't know what to say. This Insignificant little Ant had suddenly brought about a shift in the man's perspective. The Ant had not revealed any great secret, given a sermon or quoted from the Holy books. All what he spoke was practical wisdom.

Man: "Err..Thanks...I don't know what to tell you..you have changed the way I..."

Ant: "Its ok pal. I am not a philosopher. I told you what I know. And by the way...I am getting late and if keep talking to you, I wont be able to complete my errand and reach back home in time for the party!"

With that, the Ant winked and continued climbing the wall.

The young man sat there with a smile dawning on his face.