Monday, April 20, 2009

The Slaves

They walked on and on, almost aimless; their destination no where in sight; just following their noses. Following the strict discipline imposed. Discriminated for their size - made to work like slaves; without rewards. The stronger ones got to be the "soldiers". Fates had smiled on them. And the queens. The drones had it good too.. eat the juiciest morsels, rub noses with the queens and live life to the fullest before going out in a blaze! Short and sweet. The queens - the blessed ones, with their wings of freedom distinguishing them from the others; with the whole kingdom (or should it be queendom) pandering to them.

If they were lucky, they got promoted - got to even have their own brood one day. That was a privilege. That's how the situation was. If they were lucky. But the fates had shown some mercy - their plight was not long lived. The queens outlived them ten fold.

They lived their days out expanding their territory; braving the wild and foraging for food. They were good trackers -- their sense of smell enhanced. They were clever; could optimize their work - find the shortest routes. But to what end? To make time for more work? They were undaunted though. And used their gifts. Selflessly. Even in death warning the others of dangers ahead.

******

If I were a slave ant I'd probably lead a revolt and overthrow the caste system the very next day.

3 comments:

vital_statistix said...

dont want to be nitpicking but:

People often compare an ant colony to a human society forgetting that there is a huge difference i.e. all ants in an ant colony are related and in fact all slaves are clones with identical copies of DNA.

Now to answer your question "to what end?" from a strictly evolutionary perspective.. a slave is prepared to do everything it can for the queen for the same reasons why a mother is willing to sacrifice everything for her kids, which is to propagate genes.

ok, sorry.. couldn't help but comment after reading "The ant and the peacock" :-)

Journeyer said...

hmmm.. interesting thought.. in my mind I hadn't assigned those tiny beings with feelings of attachment and all.

vital_statistix said...

The goal is the same but mechanism that nature choose is different.. in ants it is hard wired but in humans it is feelings..

Yeah, I know you used it purely as a metaphor.