I live in a community where we share everything, really everything like food, water and shelter. We share the work. We share our joys and sorrows. We work under a leader whose battle cry is: MOVE, MOVE, MOVE!
Let me share how we move and why we move!
SUNDAY
The sun shone brightly on my face. After five hours’ sleep, I was getting ready to face this beautiful day. I took a sip of my favorite drink of rain water and honey and hurried to my place of work. At work, our group of sturdy workers gathered around our leader for the day’s instructions. The site was identified plus the work assigned to all of us. So the leader for the day, Mr. Ben, blew his whistle and off we went marching single file with a heavy load gathered from a nearby bakery on our backs to a warehouse not too far away. Once stored, we moved back and again carried loads to be stacked in the warehouse. I counted 50 times moving back and forth carrying a load on my back.
At the end of the day, my back ached BUT I had no complaints. All of us went through the same hurdle. No one dared to play hooky. The stack was as high as the bush that brought shelter to the stockpile but Mr. Ben said it was NOT enough. It was only 1/8th of what was expected. WHAT?? This would be a back-breaking week for me and my army of friends.
MONDAY
When I got to the site, Mr. Ben was already yelling “MOVE, MOVE, KEEP MOVING!” We did move, worked the whole day, stopped only to eat a little and drink water at the spring. At the end of the day, the stack was almost full. I sighed with relief thinking that tomorrow— “ELLIOT, you will not be working as hard as today!” I slept soundly because I was tired.
TUESDAY
Another back-breaking day. Not as I had expected. BUT there was an accident at the site. A young boy wandered into our site—crushed a group carrying a load. Witnessing the tragedy, m any of us dropped our loads and went to avenge the victims. The boy scampered away, yelling and cursing. We had to work double time as poor ELMO and his battalion were laid to rest that day, never to join our work again.
WEDNESDAY
This time we were very careful. We resumed work, kept our sacks hidden in a secured place. Then we moved and moved and by the end of the day, our stack was complete. We were all so distraught that we barely noticed our hunger, thinking of our friend Elmo who was gone forever.
THURSDAY
Our Queen leader paid us a visit to console us— to weep, pray, and give us words of encouragement. She explained why she drove us to death working day in and day out… preparing us for the rainy months when it would be difficult to move around. She said it would be difficult to battle against evil animals lurking behind, watching for their prey.
She also thanked us for sharing our joys and even problems with the community, saying that our contributions at work counted a lot. Her words of encouragement gave us the will to move, move and work!
We had to save for the rainy day! We had to carry our food to a dry, safe place so that we would not go hungry when we could not work.
FRIDAY
Before the Queen’s visit, I could not understand the logic of working so hard to save for the rainy day! We could still move around, even if it was raining, I said to myself. Deep inside me, I could fight my own fight; use all my might to battle my enemies. Look at that boy who crushed our brother Elmo. He never ventured back into our territory. I could hear him telling his friends: “Don’t go near that place, it is infested.”
As I listened to our Queen, I realized she was not lecturing but advising. She was not our Queen for nothing. She was someone with an understanding heart worthy of love.
I misjudged the Queen. I was not willing to trust her before. But now I realized she had our best interest in her mind.
SATURDAY
We stayed in bed the whole day as it was raining cats and dogs. True, we could wander around the place. But we could not carry the goods to the stockpile. The rains could melt the food, the sugar, the bread, the cooked food! At first, I felt so good, resting in my nook but when I felt the pangs of hunger, I summoned enough courage to approach our Queen to ask for food. The kind lady wandered off to the pile and got the stack of bread to feed all of us.
“If these rains continue, there will not be enough food to feed the army.” I began to understand her passion to make us MOVE, MOVE, MOVE. If we did not move to work, we would all go hungry, lose all our energy, even the energy to fight off our enemies.
There were other colonies living in houses, in covered structures. They may have their own problems, too, because life is NOT easy. We all have problems but we must face those problems head on.
SUNDAY
For two wet days, our needs were satisfied by the Queen. We were comforted, we were kept dry. We were cared for.
I realized that a true leader is one who comes in when things go awry; one who motivates people to care for one another, to work together, to better things.
This is ELLIOT, a red ant who lives in a community, who adores my Queen, who works hard for her sake and for all of us living in an ANTHILL! We are small creatures but we have our own lives. We were created by God to do something good on earth. Small as we are, we work collectively. We carry the heaviest load day in and day out and nobody notices. Collectively small creatures like us can carry even a whole human body.
“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.”
