December 3, 1999 (Ira Pilgrim)
We are face to face with our destiny and we must meet it with a high and resolute courage. For us is the life of action, of strenuous performance of duty; let us live in the harness, striving mightily; let us rather run the risk of wearing out than rusting out.
Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919)
By the dirt road where I take my morning walk is a colony of mound building ants. Their mound is about 2 feet in diameter and a foot high. It is constructed of fir needles. During the summer it is covered with ants. Many of them have a fir needle in their mouth which they seem to be carrying from the bottom of the mound to the top. Most of the ants do not seem to be going anywhere in particular, but they are doing it in a hurry. Every now and then, a bear comes by and swipes his immense paw through the mound and feasts on the ants and, perhaps, their larvae. The ants continue to do their thing so that in about a month, the mound shows no trace of the damage. This year, by the time the winter rains came, the mound looked perfect and the ants were inside it, from which they will emerge in the spring to start to forage for food. All of this with a brain that you would need a microscope to see.
In November, at the Texas College of Agriculture and Mining (Texas A&M), in preparation for their traditional football game with their traditional rival, a large number of students take a large number of de-limbed trees and stack them into a 55 foot high tower. The night before the big game, they plan to set the tower on fire. This year , the log tower collapsed, killing a dozen students and injuring twice as many. The rest of the students will continue to attend classes, study, write papers, take exams and eventually graduate and go on to take their place in the adult world.
In California, students at those bastions of learning Stanford University and the University of California will also have a night rally and bonfire in preparation for their Big Game. It will be nowhere near as big as the one in Texas and may result in a few singed eyebrows and burnt fingers. As we all know, Texas does things BIG.
Now, thanks to our vigilant media, the whole world knows about the exploits of those students and their tradition. They already know about the gallant warriors who carry a ball from one end of a field to the other, while their opponents try to stop them; of the cheering crowds and the marching bands and cavorting cheer leaders. The games and their scores will be broadcast on radio and television from coast to coast, as well as the highlights of the contest.
By the dirt road where I take my morning walk is a colony of mound building ants. Their mound is about 2 feet in diameter and a foot high. It is constructed of fir needles. During the summer it is covered with ants. Many of them have a fir needle in their mouth which they seem to be carrying from the bottom of the mound to the top. Most of the ants do not seem to be going anywhere in particular, but they are doing it in a hurry. Every now and then, a bear comes by and swipes his immense paw through the mound and feasts on the ants and, perhaps, their larvae. The ants continue to do their thing so that in about a month, the mound shows no trace of the damage. This year, by the time the winter rains came, the mound looked perfect and the ants were inside it, from which they will emerge in the spring to start to forage for food. All of this with a brain that you would need a microscope to see.