Bugs

Back from vacation . . . didn’t really go anywhere, but took a break from the blog while getting a few things in order. Thanks for your patience.

Rains finally came after a prolonged drought ravaged local crops. It hasn’t been a happy year for agriculture with early fruit blossoms being decimated by late frosts (it’s estimated that between 85 and 90% of Michigan’s apple crop was lost), and weeks without rain severely stunted the corn in my little corner of the world.

Families would probably be well advised to buy a side or quarter beef now and wrap it well for the freezer – food prices will be skyrocketing next year. If you are a hunter, get a second tag for some additional venison or stockpile some ducks, pheasant and geese. It may even to time to think about scoping out where to plant next year’s garden. I’m going to learn how to can foods and triple the size of next year’s garden.

By the way, sorry if I’m sounding less than rosy – but I truly believe that hurricanes and cartels pushing up gas prices, the drought pushing up food prices, and likely a tepid economic recovery for the next 24 months (regardless of who is elected) calls for preparation.

Oh, I’m not advocating going to the mattresses or wrapping your head with tin foil, but just think we, as a culture, are far too focused on the present. For many, “live for the moment” is the mantra. Recently, I mentioned to a friend that I wouldn’t take a vacation unless I could do it without leaving any traces of it on a credit card. Her response was “but what if you couldn’t prepay for something and it was a great opportunity?” Her slack-jaw response when I said that I wouldn’t go told me we had different values.

I just realized that my points were far more eloquently expressed around 600 BC by a fellow called Aesop in his fable about a grasshopper and an ant. A retelling of the original is available here: http://www.umass.edu/aesop/content.php?n=0&i=1.

I’ve discovered that this tale has been reengineered over the years by various authors including Jean de La Fontaine (1621 – 1695). La Fontaine was a widely read French fabulist in the 17th century and a recognized man of letters in the day. In his version, the basics are the same, but there is a suggestion that the ant is a cruel character for not sharing his larder with the unprepared grasshopper. For the original French version and a translation, see:
http://www.recmusic.org/lieder/get_text.html?TextId=5699.

Around 1800, French fabulist Jean-Jacques Boisard (1743–1831) brings a cricket into the mix who chides the ant: “Hoarding is folly, enjoyment is wise” since we all die in the end. As an aside, Boisard lost his job and pension due to the French Revolution.

A number of other responses have depicted the ant in different ways – one where the grasshopper was invited from the cold and told to play his fiddle as payment (picked up in the Disney version) and discovering the need to work hard. A second depicts the ant losing his stores and rebuked by a bee for not previously helping the grasshopper. Recurring iterations chide the ant for a lack of pity or Christian charity.

I see some real parallels to the current social and political debate in this fable. To characterize the grasshoppers as deserving to die in the cold is inhuman; similarly, to conclude that the ants are greedy or lacking compassion is grossly unfair. Hoping ants get some comeuppance for working hard and anticipating the winter is mean-spirited – as is choosing not to share voluntarily with those in need.

We hope that the grasshoppers in our lives start to anticipate the future and act accordingly. We also hope that the ants in our lives choose to do what they can to help others. I am opposed, however, to forcing the grasshoppers at gunpoint to be responsible and am loath to force the ants at gunpoint to be generous.

A whole bunch to consider.


Some history found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ant_and_the_Grasshopper

Illustration by Milo Winter (1886-1956)