So, what’s the story with ants? I always wanted to buy an ant farm (the toy of course). I thought it is cool to see how they live, like watching a reality show! But, I was too busy doing life that I never got to it. I guess I’ll buy one for myself soon. Have you ever had one?
Here is what I get annoyed at: I go to get a glass of water after cleaning the kitchen completely which is an excuse to see the fruit of my labor (it is truly labor because I resent house work 
) and there they are; ants all over! Then the game starts: what are they looking for this time? Where are they coming from? Where did I go wrong? I remember, whenever I complained about it, Gary would say: it is hot, they are thirsty, they are looking for water or, it’s raining outside and their nest is ruined, so they are looking for shelter. To which I’d think, OK, whenever they need something, they feel free to come to my kitchen? Then, I’d find that one thing that was left behind and they are crawling all over it.
Today, it was the garbage. And it was a stainless steel garbage can, with the tight lid. What?? So, I put the garbage out in the yard disgustingly while being careful not to get them all over me (have you noticed their speed?), and after a while they disappear! Wait a minute! Where did they go? You’d think they will call the whole colony: “hey everyone, come – food here”.. But no, they are gone.
It is fascinating just to watch them. I am impressed by their persistence, team work, moving in a file, speed, and messaging system. Sometimes, 4 or 5 of them are carrying a piece of crumb. I get tempted to lift them all up with the crumb and take them closer to their nest to give them a boost. Sometimes I wonder when I step on them accidently, do the survivors tell the others that “giants” showed up and destroyed their friends?
They sure do work hard for living. In my years of driving to work I often viewed all of us in traffic as ants going to work and bringing food to the nest. Some of us get crushed by the “giants”, some gets derailed from destination and have to choose another path, some loose the nest and have to move and make a new one, and the rest make it safe and store food for rainy days. I guess the ones showed up in my kitchen in the rainy days, were those with no savings JI often wonder, do they think of efficiency? Do they think of retirement?
I love working. I feel very blessed that I have the privilege and the right to work. I decided some times ago, that I am not going to be worried about retirement. Planning retirement was a depressing thought for me. Not that I didn’t plan on savings, but just not worried about it. I decided, I’ll be working as long as I can and if I am lucky, I get to do the work that I love and do the stuff that I want to do after I retire, now. The truth is that I never really understood or cared for retirement plans, IRAs, 401K, etc. I just participated because it was the smart thing to do, hoping that it works eventually. Part of it was that I thought I don’t have too much control over it. And, when you don’t have control on something, you can’t worry about it too much. My father, always looked forward to retirement. Nothing could go wrong. He has spent more than 30 years in army. He was going to retire with good pay, insurance, servants, drivers, and other benefits. Then he was going to do the stuff he love. What do you know? We had a revolution! You think, company loosing a retirement found is bad. Try revolution. He never saw a penny! You see why it is hard for me to trust retirement? Another part was that even if I did well with my retirement planning, I was going to get a constant amount at the retirement age and then I had to budget it accordingly and worry about how many years I could live, health insurance, life insurance, etc. Not too attractive to me. So, I’d rather work and be happy while doing it J
What do you think?