OF ARCHES AND ANTS

One summer while hiking through Arches National Park in Utah I was surrounded by grandeur. Massive arches towering above me, slabs of immense stone columns straining to reach the sky and windows through the rock seemingly into another world.

While all this beauty and wonder was stunning and breathtaking there are worlds of experiences constantly going on around us that may be easily missed if your focus is only on the obvious. I stopped to explore one of these worlds beneath my feet. I had taken notice of a solitary ant and lie on the ground to watch it.

Within it's jaws the ant was carrying what to you or I would be a small grain of sand. To the ant it was a massive boulder twice it's size. The ant was trying to cross a sand filled depression in the rock but could not seem to traverse the uphill slope. With the additional weight in it's jaws the smaller grains of sand kept sliding in a mini avalanche beneath it's feet preventing it's uphill escape.

I lie and watched the ant for half an hour or more. Other dramas were simultaneously being
played out around us. The wind blew through the withered branches of a creosote bush just a few feet away making music with the dried leaves at it's base.

Wait!! The wind has stopped and yet the music plays on!! What is it's source? Swish, the long tail of a blue lined whip tail lizard comes into view from beneath the bush. It must be hunting a meal. Suddenly the lizard emerges with it's head cocked to the side glancing quizzically at me. A quick look around and it is gone from the scene as quickly as it arrived.

Having realized that the direct path is not always the easiest route, the ant has chosen another path around the depression and moves off in the distance. Time for me to move on as well and always more worlds to explore.

Gregg :o)

8/7/01