Yesterday. I was simply amazed. Again.
There isn’t a day that passes, that in one way or another, something makes my socks fall down, all the way to my ankles. Well. Most of the time, I just wear those little socks that barely even come up to my ankles. But regardless. I’m struck, is the point.
I went outside mid-morning with a bag of apples to toss them near the deer feeders. Extra apples. The girls are all pregnant right now, and getting ready to squeeze out one, or even two, fawns. They need lots of nutrients. So, heavy on the apples. As I was chucking them out into the meadow, I looked down to the ground, and that is when I saw them.
Ants.
Busy, busy ants.
I can remember taking the grandkids down to the Cincinnati Zoo, about 18 years ago. We used to take them to the zoo regularly. On this trip, we stopped in the bug building. Mary and the kids had to plead with me to leave the place. I couldn’t stop watching the leaf-cutter ants.
Much was the case yesterday morning. But these were little builder ants. And, if truth be told, their building was really a calculated exercise in excavation. Yes, to dig out, to hollow out, to tunnel. I squatted down on my haunches and watched them until my legs went numb.
They were following some sort of cosmic blueprint. There was a definite plan for the endeavor, and they were all doing their part. Relentlessly. Willingly. Resolutely. I shot a little video so you could watch too.
I was amazed to think about what was going on in the underneath of things. Below my feet, below what my eyes could see, were tunnels, and chambers, all carefully planned out and orchestrated, for the flow of their traffic. This was the building phase. You could see that some very big pieces of earth were being moved out of their labyrinth, their subterranean passages. Some ants were a little more industrious than others. Like, little Floyd ant would be carrying one tiny speck of dirt. And old Rocco ant would come out of the hole with a big log in his mouth. Arrrrggghhh.
Anyway. Scientists have been studying them for a long time, trying to figure out how such little brained creatures orchestrate such monumental tasks. Like building bridges between gaps by latching on to one another. Big gaps. And then this. The underground city of their own construction. The magic blueprint taped to some ant wall, that only they can see.
Yes. Yesterday, I was simply amazed.
Again, with our world, and us. Right now, the billions of people, the trillions of creatures, all here. All of us together on one big rock hurtling through space. And in that enormity, if you look in any one direction, you will see all sorts of lives. Unfolding. Living. Existing. Being.
Tunnels are being built underneath our feet. Nests, over our heads. Deer giving birth. In the mile down the road, someone just heard some incredibly great news. In the next mile down, the situation was quite different. All at once. All right now.
And here we are, together, in this minute. Me writing, you reading. Our lives touching. It is a good day to look around and be amazed.
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“Wonder is the beginning of wisdom.”
― Socrates
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“Enlightenment is simply the moment you realize how amazing it is to be alive.”
― Marty Rubin
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“Almost the entire world is asleep. Those who are awake live in constant amazement.”
― Tom Hanks, Joe vs. the Volcano
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