The second piece of ‘Unlacing the Cultural Labels’ focused on the subtle but pervasive brainwashing of youngsters via stories. Do you recall the fable of the grasshopper and the ant? The grasshopper spends the summer strumming a guitar as the ant toils away in the hot sun gathering food. The grasshopper perishes from hunger, but the ant makes it through the winter. Ultimately, we all wish we were ants rather than grasshoppers. Why would somebody want to starve to death? No one warned us, however, that even ants succumb to fatigue eventually.
By looking at the fable of the ant and the grasshopper from various perspectives, I was able to develop a deeper understanding of the cultural underpinnings that guides our society and the world at large. What if we rewrote the ant and grasshopper story today? Will it be any different? The old story taught us the value of labor and saving for the harsh winters of life. Isn’t the message important? What new message would we like to convey in accordance with the time?
What will the next big cultural narrative be? The ant and the grasshopper in the original narrative represent contrasts. But if you want to live a happy and fulfilled life, you shouldn’t blindly adhere to one idea while rejecting all others. To live life fully, both the ant and grasshopper need to learn from and adapt to each other.
To understand further, let us analyze the cinema of the twentieth century. It was easy to identify the protagonist and the antagonist in movies back then. However, today’s characters are more layered and balanced. Is Breaking Bad’s Mr. White a name you recall? Is he supposed to be bad, good, or neither? Aren’t we all multifaceted? Let our tales serve to illustrate the enormous potential each of us has as both an ant and a grasshopper. Let the reader decide who s/he would want to be. Why not write our life stories as we would like them to be? Thus, here I am, rewriting the ant & grasshopper story.
The Ant & Grasshopper – Story Retold
This is the story of an ant colony. The ants worked hard with utmost dedication, seven days a week. Every day, they would get up and look for food. The day ended with food brought to the colony. They had molded themselves into the routine. The bodies worked, tuned to the discipline in an automated manner. Yet the explorer ants were not able to bring the much required food for the colony. They were managing with a low food supply. Winter was around the corner. The newly appointed queen ant observed the low ration. Despite putting in hard work, the ants couldn’t gather much enthusiasm. They behaved like machines, doing mundane jobs day in and day out.
The queen ant had to do something quickly. What she did, no one could have imagined. She asked her team to conduct a survey. Why do ants work so hard? What motivates them to slog day and night in the same monotonous manner for sixty percent of their lives? What do they love most about their work?
The results were shocking. Ants worked hard because they didn’t know any other way. That’s exactly how their parents, grandparents, and great grandparents lived. Thus, they lacked imagination and innovation in their thoughts. They were well trained ants. The only motivation that work could guarantee was food security in old age. Remember the original story, where ants survive harsh winters due to the food they have collected all summer. Thus, they were skimming through life to enjoy the fruits of labor one fine day, forgetting that one fine day was today. Barring a few ants who were passionate about work, rest all loved the holidays and looked forward to them. In other words, ants hated their work. Work was just a means to have food on the table. And after that they were too tired to do anything. Thus, a beer bottle and the mindless scrolling of the television or phone consumed them.
The queen ant knew the colony needed a radical approach. Thus, she brought a grasshopper into the colony. The grasshopper was a disruption. The stark diversity was too much to bear. The ants crowded together in groups, giving her death stares. ‘Ah! She just sings and plays guitar all day long. A good for nothing creature.’
That night, as the colony rested, preparing for the next day’s work. They heard the most melodious voice. Everyone ran in the direction of the music. The grasshopper had started to sing. First, the young ants gathered around. As the night grew darker, her songs turned louder. By midnight every ant in the colony was there, tapping, dancing, and singing aloud. Strangely, they hadn’t forgotten to enjoy life! God knows after how long, but they felt alive.
The chief decided to permanently hire the grasshopper. Thus, grasshopper was provided food, home, clothes and everything else. His job was to entertain the ants. Grasshopper loved her job. What more could she have asked for?
Time passed. Both the ants and the grasshopper realized the similarities despite the outward differences. Every day, the grasshopper worked on her music, composed new songs, and fine-tuned the old ones, thus honing her skills as a performer. She was as sincere and dedicated to her craft as ants were to finding food. The grasshopper started to admire the meticulous orderliness of the colony.
The ants, with renewed vigor, explored faraway areas and discovered more food. They sang while searching for food. There were fewer ants that died due to burnout. Productivity was at its peak. Grasshopper, too, lived a settled life. Together, the grasshopper and the ants became a formidable team.
Moral of the story: Shun the extremes. Retrace the binary view of life. Embrace the wholeness by adopting both the grasshopper & the ant in you.
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