The Ants

--Mümtaz Yener

[Americans] can adapt when they see necessity
staring them in the face. What to avoid is
what someone once called the definition of hell:
truth realized too late
--E. O. Wilson, co-author of The Ants

Well, lads, we've lost the first round.
But we'll smash the beggars yet, don't you worry
--Leningen Versus the Ants
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First it was the bees.

"Why are the colonies dying?" was the question. Came no reply. The USDA website says the main symptom of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) is "simply no or a low number of adult honey bees present but with a live queen." But when the workers hop ship, the colony is no longer viable.

Ranger sits in restaurants watching the world go by. This morning's establishment featured multiple tv's playing ESPN on all screens -- NFL, NBA, Baseball, hockey, the panoply of professional sports. The patrons sat mesmerized by the artifice that is the big money professional sports world.

These athletes, like the Wall Street bankers, pull in the big bucks while the rest of the country sees diminishing returns on their dollar. Why do we care who wins a damn sports game? Why do we celebrate this obscene disparity in salaries? What is the point?

The U.S. reminds Ranger of a fire ant nest. They are hard to kill, but sprinkle scented toxic granules of Amdro around their mound and the workers will dutifully carry it underground. After a few days of feasting upon the poison, the nest self destructs from within.

We are like those worker ants collecting Amdro powder, which are all the little baubles that captivate us, for a time. It is also all the toxins which pollute our bodies and nests.

Meanwhile, the game goes on.