I have never been very interested in ants. They were small and innocuous, they all looked the same, and I never wondered about their hills, colonies, queens or movements.
Until recently.
Now I am in awe of ants. I want to be more like them and I want my community to be more like their colonies. Ants are my new heroes.
All this is the result of my reading the book “Glorians: Visitations from the Holy Ordinary” by Terry Tempest Williams.
I am totally enthralled with the story about her standing on her stone patio strewn with magenta flower petals in the red rock desert of southeastern Utah and watching an ant carry a flower blossom a far distance to its queen. Fascinated by this small creature transporting this large blossom, Williams decided to follow it.
For a half an hour, Williams walked behind the ant carrying the large pink blossom like a sail — the ant moving at a quick pace with a clear purpose. Crawling across the patio and then onto the red sand, the ant continued carrying the petal in its mandibles. In the distance, Williams sees an ant colony on the desert floor.
What was remarkable was that every time the wind quickened and the flower petal wobbled, a pair of ants suddenly appeared to hold the ant and the blossom steady. Then the helper ants disappeared.
Each time the ant faced a treacherous part of the journey, including cracks between the stones, a pair of ants appeared again to help ferry the original ant with its blossom load across the chasm. Then, again, the helper ants disappeared.
The blossom-bearing ant continued on its way, diligent and undeterred.
When the load-carrying ant reached a patch of prickly pear cacti, three ants appeared and lifted the blossom around and over the cacti. And then they vanished.
Upon arriving at the ant colony, the ant climbed the hill with the blossom still intact. At the entrance to the colony, the ant laid the flower down. Then dozens of ants appeared, cut the flower into small pieces, and carried them into the chamber to the queen.
I want to be as diligent and tenacious as the petal-carrying ant who grabbed the large blossom with its not-large mandibles and then set off for home. The ant who, despite the intimidating task, believed it could make it to the colony and also knew if it needed help, other ants would appear to assist with carrying the load. I want to be as steadfast and single-minded with my eye on a worthy goal.
Furthermore, I want to live in a community where when the going gets tough, the challenges are mighty, and the road ahead is too treacherous to navigate alone, comrades appear and help lift the load and ferry the cargo across the dangerous obstacles.
I want to know that the expression “I’ve got your back” means I’ve really got you, I am here, I’ll give you a boost, we’ll shoulder this burden together, I can help you over the rough spots.
I want to feel that members of my community would do that for me, and that I would step up and do that for them.
How many years have I overlooked ants? All those years, I was missing their ability to take on difficult challenges, appear when needed to assist a fellow ant who was struggling, disappear again without taking any credit, and share in the work of making community thrive.
I did not realize ants were so brave and selfless. What did I know?
I want to build a community modeled after ants — focused on a mission for the common good, mutually helpful and supportive, steady, determined, indomitable and communally minded.
You go ants! You go, you small and underappreciated (at least previously by me) creatures. You go and show the rest of us how it is done to appear, serve, support, and slip into anonymity.
Ants are my new heroes. And my admiration for them is well deserved.
The Rev. Andrea Ayvazian, Ministerial Team, Alden Baptist Church, Springfield, is also founder and director of the Sojourner Truth School for Social Change Leadership.