I know that we have heard this saying. It is also a verse in the Bible. “Go to the ants, ye sluggard and learn their ways.” Well, today, I went to the ants and learnt something.

I had cut a tiny piece of leaf from my orange tree. I wanted to entice the ants to come out of their hiding spot (a small crack on the wall) so that I could crush them. I had put the leaf in front of the crack so that the ants could smell it and laid it down. I watched them coming out, trying to find the smell. Just then, I saw an ant, bigger than them, crawling out and carrying a piece of something that looked like food. It started climbing down from the crack and onto the floor. I followed it. The journey began and this is what I learnt.

As soon as it had crawled out, my first instinct was to crush it but I didn't. For those who have an idea or a business plan, when you show it to the world (family, friends, colleagues, anybody), the first instinct they get is to crush it. They can crush it with questions like “Can you do it?”, “How will you do it?”, “What will you use to do it?”. I also noticed that from the moment it crawled out, it wasn't looking for the source of the smell, it was more focused on what it was holding and its destination. There are some people who are more focused on their dreams, ignoring the smell of temptation while there are others who already got enticed, dropped their dreams and forgot them.

As the ant kept going, still holding the food, other ants came in front of it. About two ants bumped into it or it bumped into them. But it kept going. It neither stopped nor looked back. When you start going with your idea/plan, there will be people to block or bump into you, with the intention of slowing you down or just stopping you completely. But don't stop or look back.

As it kept moving and I kept following, I saw a small rock. Again, my mind told me to pick it and use it to crush the ant. The ant hadn't even passed the quarter of my house and I wanted to crush it but I decided against it. I wanted to see where it would go and when it would stop. Just like that, even when you have reached a quarter of your journey, someone somewhere, even your own people are looking at something that they want to use to crush you. It could be anything. Some just want to crush you because it seems fine to them. They don't care about how far you have gone.

The ant was really trying, walking a hundred steps per second. I was even tired of following it but I wanted to see where it was going, when it would stop. Mind you, through the entirety of the journey, I never tried to support it. Not once. My thoughts were to kill it and walk out of its progress. People don't help you with your dream/idea/plan. They just want to see if you will succeed or fail, if you will stop or where you are going with your idea/plan. Some are already tired of hearing you talk about it because they haven't seen what you were seeing when you had the idea/plan.

Finally, the ant reached the window of my room and crawled through a tiny space. Perhaps its destination was inside my room. Maybe it still had places to go before it reached its destination. But to me, it had reached its destination. I will leave this part for you to think about.

Anyway, I turned back and went to see if the ants had taken the leaf (my bait). This one will be another story.