Be an ant
Father to son — a short letter
Simba from Lion King is a great character no doubt and I have always reminded you to be courageous like a lion. And now as you have grown past your 12th year M.A. (MashaAllah — Arabic for God has willed), its time I introduce you to a different kind of inspiration.
Before you saw eeeww, what is that creepy-crawler pic of an ant for, let me first impress you on behalf of Mr. Creepy here.
Did you know there are 1 million ants for every human on this planet? Were you aware ants don’t have ears or lungs but have two stomachs, one to store food for themselves and one to share food with other ants? Here is another one; ants have been around since the dinosaurs some 130 million years ago and are estimated to have started farming around 70 million years ago. And, by the way, you will love the fact ants can lift weight 10–50x heavier than themselves — that means if you had ant strength you could literally carry our sedan over your head!
Cool…
Alright, now lets get back to why I am writing this article. Life has a reward system that may be unclear to you at this time. I am going to share with you how and why acting like an ant will significantly help your chances of success in life.
Here are five simple reasons why ants should impress you beyond their physical prowess:
- Fantastic collaborators
A typical ant colony may have tens of thousands or maybe even millions of ants in it and yet the colony operates as one unit. Ants communicate with each other through sound, touch, scent and body language. They make use of all their abilities to coordinate and collaborate on tasks from foraging to storing food to defending themselves. Miscommunication in such a large and complex ecosystem across many different specifies of ants can create havoc, right?
Become a great communicator and collaborator. You ability to be patient in understanding others both verbally and non-verbally will likely be one of your biggest strengths in life. The world you are growing up in is essentially turning into a giant global ant colony!
2. Highly competent
Ants are clear about what they have to do and they do it very well. Ants serving inside the nest and those outside the nest have their unique roles and responsibilities. The queen only lays eggs, then there are soldier ants who defend the colony if under threat, also don’t forget the foragers who search for food, those ants that guard the foragers, gardeners, nurses, excavators and trash handlers. Each ant is clear about its role and what specifically needs to be done without someone constantly telling them. Though we call the egg-laying ant the queen, she does not give orders to others — she just does her role in increasing the population of the nest.
So whatever you end up doing in life, make sure you are good enough at it that you stand out. Whether you are a ‘gardener’ or a ‘guard’, your skill should be developed over time to serve others just like the ants serve each other. Start poorly at anything and gradually build your competence till you become someone of tangible value to others.
3. Relentless
Amir Taimur or Tamerlane, a Turko-Persian conqueror is considered by many one of the greatest warriors and empire builders in history. He was once known to have been run off the battle field by his enemies. As he took temporary shelter in a cave he was fearful for his life. As he sat tired and dismayed, he observed an ant trying to push a grain of rice much bigger than itself up a wall but every time the ant would fall back to the ground. However, the ant did not give up. Some say the ant tried to climb the wall thirty times each time trying a different tactic to hold the grain in its jaws. Finally, the ant succeeded and this shook Taimur in a way he never could imagine. He was so moved by what a tiny ant was able to do through its perseverance that he decided to gather his spirits and his men all over again. He later fought back his enemies and won.
I think this story is self explanatory regarding how persistent ants can be and what we can learn from them.
4. Great investors
Investment is essentially delaying a reward today for a better one in the future. It takes vision and discipline to be good at it. When you save money you save it for a rainy day in the future. Ants do this daily. They gather and store food so they can use it for thousands and millions of ants in tough times or when there is a food shortage.
You too should not only think about yourself but also your family and those less fortunate than you in the future. Not only should you save money but you should also build your skills, which is also a kind of investment — in yourself that is. By having more valuable skills in life you become stronger and can help yourself an others in time of need or otherwise.
Today, you stay disciplined, focus on learning, practice, make mistakes, learn from them, get better and keep repeating this cycle for years ahead and delay your reward of today’s comfort in watching endless TV shows, playing countless hours of video games and binging on YouTube videos in your free time. For this hard work and sacrifice, the reward you will get in the future will be far greater than the sum of all the daily rewards I.A. (InshAllah — meaning God willing).
5. Adaptive
Ants are highly adaptive. Some ants even change their roles to replace other ants, develop a symbiotic relationship with the plants around them, work together to problem solve a communication challenge or bypass a new obstacle in their path. No surprise, since after all ants have been around for hundreds of millions of years.
In life, adjusting to situations and circumstances is a powerful attribute. Remember Amor Fati. No matter what happens in life, if you can stay centered through the ups and downs, I assure you, there is a far better tomorrow waiting for you. Be creative and nimble through any difficulty or feeling of newness. Sooner or later you will figure it all out. Embrace uncertainty with a belief that you will take the ‘un’ out of it with a smile on your face.
These letters are my initial thoughts on various topics I find important for my son and the younger generation.