Learning from Ant, The Discoverer

"Teacher of Achievement"


I bought a fried egg-coated milkfish and three slices of soybeans for dinner. But I couldn’t use them up at once. To prevent them of being spoiled, then I re-fried the rest and saved them in my locker for my breakfast for the next morning. I was sure they would not be stolen by cats or rats. So I did not worry about that side-dishes.

Breakfast time had come. Imagining the delicious milkfish, I opened the locker. How disappointed I was! No cats or rats had stolen my milkfish and soybeans, but ants! They swarmed over it! There was a line of troopers coming and going directly to and from my locker. I was so annoyed by them! They was out of my estimation that there might be a “spy” watching me putting them in my locker. Poor I was, luck for the colony…

It was an ordinary event actually. Nothing’s odd with it. But something occurs in my mind: So, the ants got the hiden milkfish! How could “the spy” find it and then told the others to “celebrate” the discovery?

Scientist has told us that ants have antennas as radars. That’s why they can detect objects to find. From this information I try to make a reconstruction: Smelling milkfish has been detected by a certain ant. It made an identification on the smell that led it to the source. The ant knew what it was looking for! Then it moved back and forth looking for the source of the smell ceaselessly. Footprints were made as a clue for the coming back to the colony. (Has an ant ever been lost? Hehehe…) After a long journey of tracking, and only led by the smell, finally the ant found the object, my delicious milkfish! “Hurrrraaay…!!!” it shouted cheerfully. It picked up a bite of sample and went back to the colony. It told everybody about the discovery by clinking their antennas ones to another. And they just followed the trace to the object. “It’s time to feast!” the shouted happily. And so the celebration began!

“Congratulations!” If I were one of them, surely I’d like to say that for the achievement. Why not? The discovery of the hiden milkfish was a kind of achievement, wasn’t it?

Insights:
Lessons I’ve got from the discoverer ant would be:
• Identify the real target to achieve!
• I should know what I’m looking for so that I could recognize when I find it.
• I should not give up for the achievement.
• Keep in mind the clues to prevent of repeating the same mistakes.
• I should share what I’ve got to others.
• Celebrate the achievement as a thanksgiving!

Thank you discoverer ant! You are a good teacher of achievement and sharing of life! ***


NB.: The picture above was uploaded by my friend s_bala, myLotter from India, with title "Ant, one of wise creatures". Thanks for it!