"When one does not see the Forest for the trees, it is amazing how quickly it all deteriorates into a green blur!"
The ants were spending a fine winter's day drying grain they had collected and stored in the summertime. A Grasshopper, shivering with hunger, passed by and earnestly asked for a little food.
An Ant inquired, "Why did you not harvest and store food during the summer?"
When Spring came, the Ants were astounded to see that the Grasshoppers had survived... skinny, but alive.
"Whom did you find to sponge on?" queried an Ant , snidely.
The Grasshopper caught sight of an Ant in the back row, shaking his head, "no!" vehemently.
"Well," the snide Ant was answered. "We supped on wind-blown fodder and some wasted grains of wheat amongst the chaff from the Miller. But, we would not have survived had there not been one, a true friend, who liked to hear us sing our song."
"Well," sniffed the Ants, "I don't hear you singing now!"
"True," said the Grasshopper. "But we will. And we don't see you smiling now, and," he added sadly, "I wonder if you ever will."
And the Grasshoppers left the Ants to their toil, and it wasn't very long before their song could be heard throughout the land. And, there was one Ant, listening, who smiled.
About Complacency...
"Practice random acts of kindness" for "senseless acts of beauty."
The Grasshopper replied, "My friends and I watched the flowers and the waterfalls... We sang and made each other and many friends happy.
Are you a grasshopper or an ant?
In the world there are two kinds of people: The Ants and the Grasshoppers. The Ants are very wise, very hard-working. The Grasshoppers?
I am an apprentice Grasshopper. Watching the Master Grasshoppers, your editor attests that they enjoy life, give and take a lot of fun, and see and hear and feel a lot of what is lovely in this old world. I have learned to watch waterfalls and sunsets, to smell roses and taste strawberries, to (try) singing and making music, and to share what lovely experiences I can. And as my Irish granny used to say, "The Lord will provide..."
And then, there are many Ants who do "random acts of kindness" for those "senseless acts of beauty."
You might as well treasure the Grasshoppers. They will survive, just as the loveliness they thrust upon us survives...
The Ant then said smugly: "If you were foolish enough to sing all the summer, you must dance supperless to bed in the winter."
But, one of the Ants waited until his comrades were occupied, and then tugged over a very large crust of bread he had smuggled from the Farmer's Wife.
This Ant looked around, apprehensively, and shoved the crust into the Grasshopper's forearms. "Hush," he cautioned. "Don't tell them."
"And the other forest creatures received joy from us and the beauty we shared with them..."
'Cause that is what makes it a Wonderful World!
Then he frowned. "I heard you sing last summer." The Ant paused, and smiled, bashfully. "I hope you never stop singing!" And with that, he scurried away.
