June 28

I like the poem “No man is an island” by John Donne.  

While I’m drinking a cup of coffee in the garden I watch the ants working on the ground. Their work contains mostly of carrying different things; seeds, tiny sticks, grains etc. They are absorbed by their work and nothing can stop them. I put my foot in their way; they walk round it. I put my finger in front of one; the ant smells it and then passes it. I drop blades of grass on them and they continue like nothing has happened.

I imagine myself walking in the forest and then suddenly have five logs falling on me. I would either die or panic. On reflection, I would first panic and then die. But the ants just continue like nothing has happened. I find this interesting.

First the practical question, why don’t they die even though the blades of grass are as heavy to them, as a log would be to me? My husband, the biologist, explain that the energy in the blade is much less than in a log. Hence, the actual weight of the blade is the important thing, not the size. 

Second, why don’t they panic? Even when I try to chase an ant with the grass, it doesn’t react. It just continues forward like nothing has happened. Are ants stupid? No, I don't think so. I ask the biologist again but he doesn’t have any explanation to this. Thus, this question might not have any practical answer. It may be existential instead. Maybe the ant doesn’t panic since panic wouldn’t change anything in the context of the ants society? One less ant doesn't matter to the ant society.

Sometimes I discover an ant-nest under a rock in the garden and when I remove the rock the ants are in total chaos. On these occasions they panic. Hence, this is my theory; the ant is part of an anthill. The ant is nothing without its anthill and the other members of the anthill.  So, I guess the ant can’t see the threat to it self as anything dangerous, since the ants focus on being a part of the anthill - not to live alone. It is a complete unselfish species.

Maybe John Donne was inspired by ants when he wrote that poem? Or are human beings like this as well? Do we fight for our community or do we fight for ourselves?