By Christopher Cudworth

While doing some digging in the back yard to move some sidewalk pavers I tipped up a 2’ X 2’ stone and found a colony of orange ants scurrying around. Technically they were probably a species of red ant. I’m more of a birder than an insect specialist. Yet I do find ants fascinating. 

There are 12,000+ species of ants the world. In terms of evolution, that would rank them as considerably more successful than human beings. Sure, on the surface it appears we dominate the earth. Yet our superior brain power sometimes leads to arrogance. We mess up our own colony and fail to account for our grandiose mistakes. Perhaps the ants are smarter than we are in some way? 

Social order

Yet we attempt to calculate our place in the world. We sometimes look to creatures such as ants or bees to help explain our own social structures. We talk about the sophistication of ant cultures as if, by their orderly instincts they somehow elevate our own by comparison. The ant farms we kept as kids were a transparent way to show that working together can turn something like dirt into a wonderful home. 

We know that ants live in highly organized societies. There are workers and soldiers and nursemaids and queens. All play a role in the life of the colony. As far as we can tell, ants live this way without question. But so do human beings in many cases. There might be a Dave Matthews or Bill Maher or two among the ants to put this all in perspective, cracking wise about the inane dedication of ant colonies to their roles as ant rulers and laborers. Our own society struggles with those roles. How much conformity is enough? What is more important to our survival, liberal or conservative instincts?

To their credit

Ants don’t seem to need political commentators to explain their lives. Their instincts rule the day. Yet this biological fact may yet include a capacity for play. In nature, the activity we call play often functions as a tool for learning and governing social interactions. Wolves engage in play from a very young age to determine dominance within the pack. It measures fitness and assigns relational roles to both males and females in the pack. Without play there might be need for actual conflict. It’s a phenomenon that exists throughout nature. It is particularly important to human culture.

The human race uses play to help define social order. Our Olympic games simulate battles to some degree. We count medals and show nationalistic pride. There is pageantry and symbolism in sports at the highest level. It helps us determine our perceived pecking orders and learn about the nature of human beings from other countries and cultures. It’s one way to work out our differences and celebrate our commonality. 

Big races

That’s also what makes an event such as the Boston Marathon so significant. Recall also that the New York Marathon was cancelled two years ago due to a highly calamitous natural event when Hurricane Sandy washed all the way up into Manhattan. Some propose that such events may become more commonplace as global warming takes effect around the globe. If sea levels rise as predicted, hundreds of coastal cities will have to respond. We’re looking a lot more like ants living in a colony every day. 

Random acts of terror

Boston Marathon bombing photo from the Boston Globe website (link provided)

Yet events like the Boston marathon bombing or the 9/11 attacks are much more immediate and profound. The breach in the social order is as stunning as a hail stone to the head. We can label the acts of those bombers random or calculated and it makes no difference. We still have to respond.

 In those first moments we feel no more powerful than ants in a colony. We use our instincts and start to act. It’s been happening throughout human history. From the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem to the invasion of Poland by Hitler, the human race keeps having to deal with anthropogenic incursions on peace and social order. We’re our own worst enemy. 

The human response

Yet we should recall that the terrorists who attacked the 1972 Olympics did not prevent one Frank Shorter from triumphantly winning the marathon in defiance of such disturbance. He set off a running boom that continues to change the world in positive ways. We’re ants in a good way. 

The first thing ants will do when confronted by a calamity is to set about the work of repairing the structure and ecology of their world. And that, for all their supposed inferiority to human intellect, is the best example of their highly evolved will to survive. 

Then we go beyond that as well. We study our response and communicate the best aspects of human nature so that even when evil strikes, we prepare ourselves to deal with it. And we persevere. That’s how the world works.

Critical roles

They may not think about it as such, but the role that ants play in the natural world is beyond critical to millions of plants and animals. Even the soil in which we grow food for human beings is dependent on ants who recycle organic and inorganic material on a daily basis. So there’s a purpose in their existence. Too often we are forced by religious tradition to separate the brilliance of natural evolution from our spiritual understanding of the world. The cosmic truth of both science and religion combined is much greater if we allow ourselves to admit the basic science of who we are. We share a tradition of DNA with ants as well as every other living creature on earth. It drives us to find ways to survive, to change, and to adapt. That is our hope in this world. 

The importance of play

We also continue to play because it appeals to our notions of being truly alive. We run and ride and swim to feel the world beneath our feet, our wheels and our skin. We are creatures of history, after all. Our sporting nature tells us that.

Like a pair of red ants?

As human beings we suppose ourselves enlightened by our travels on foot and by bike. Yet there comes a moment in life when we look down on our comings and goings to realize that we’re all very small in the scheme of things. When the gun goes off for the Boston Marathon there will most likely be aerial shots from helicopters tracking the race from above. The human competitors will string out like a long line of ants. We should pay attention to that moment. 

Noble histories

It’s a noble history we share with creatures small as ants. They share the planet with us. They also share the incredible capacity to overcome adversity whatever the cost. That’s why there are 12,000 species of them and one giant species of us.

Life is random, and sometimes painful. Events happen that feel like they’ve torn the top right off the civilization we’ve created. Last year’s Boston Marathon was an event of that order. The cruel hand of unnatural circumstance and disruption tore our playful stage apart. We feel compassion and draw inspiration from those most closely affected by what we call a tragedy. We draw together as a society and sew the social order back together. It is one of the tarsnakes of existence that events that tear us apart also draw us closer together. 

That’s what will be happening as thousands upon thousands of runners again embark on the journey to Boston from a small town outside the city. It is a well-traveled route. More than 100 years in fact. Legends and legacies abound along that trail. As ants we mark our trails so that others can follow. 

It will be difficult in some ways to tell if what we’re doing in this year’s Boston Marathon is technically a form of work or play. What we definitely know is that it is a race that must be run for the inner ant in all of us. May the race be triumphant and true to the cause of ants like us everywhere.