By: EFBE@fransisbm (Fransiskus Borgias M).
I remember, once I stood near a big tree in the garden of our minor seminary in Kisol, Manggarai, West Flores (NTT). The outer skin of the tree is already hard and dry. But it seemed that it becomes a play-ground for small insects and also a lot of small black-ants. When you close up to the dry surface of the skin of the tree, you will see a beautiful play-ground for small creatures of God. At that time I was interested in watching the busy activity of those ants. They are the workers of nature. They are, as if, created to work. Or they are born to work, as the saying goes, born to be music, born to be free. Working, as if, has become the second nature of their very existence. Working is their mode of existence. Stop working seemed to them meaning stop to live. And stop to live means dead. That is why they always work very hard. They are hard workers in the nature. And they seemed did not stop at all with their job. Their job is everything for them.
I have to tell you also that I often stood near that tree because it gives me fresh air. It is really a natural freshness. And also it gives me a certain “classroom” of natural life. On the natural level, we can easily see that life is totally struggle. And at that level, there is also a certain natural law that is the law of “survival of the fittest.” If you are strong enough you will be lucky to survive on the plane of living creatures. But If your are weak, then you will be thrown away.
Once I remember that I was curious, while standing under the shadow of the tree. I just want to know how they (ants) would react to the external disturbances. Then I start to blow them with the breath of my mouth. And look, what they are doing to defend themselves. They were trying to defend themselves by stick down their small black-bottom to the skin of the tree. They try to stick to the place where they are at the very moment. They try very hard, I know. They try to do it in order not to be swept out of the natural play-ground by the power of my breath which is for them maybe like a storm, or even a tsunami.
In a certain sense they are trying to defend the place where they are. And they did it almost spontaneously. When I stopped blowing they move around again as quickly as possible. Yes, they search and search. It is a never-ending search.
Now I know why there are a lot of wise words in the languages of the human race in the world saying, “Learn the ethos of working from the ants.” Or it just went like those words: “Learn hard work from ants.” Wise man always encourages the lazy people in the society to go and watch the ants, hoping that they (lazy people) will learn the discipline of working from those ants. Yes, they are the teacher of nature, teaching the discipline of working. Because working is very important for human being in order to be able to live in this world. I think that is why St.Paul once said in one of his famous letter in the New Testament, that those who did not work let them eat nothing. What a terrible and horrible punishment for laziness, for lazy people. Because by working you earn something for living. You cannot earn money (for your living) if you did not work. By working you open your gracious and generous hand and heart to God, the nature. Thanks God.
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