Forget the DOW. Forget the deficit. As we move into the second quarter of 2009, a really important decision looms before us.
Should we be ants or grasshoppers?
You remember the Aesop fable. The busy ant kept his nose to the grindstone, stayed in line, did things right. When winter came, he was warm and well prepared. The grasshopper, meantime, drank deep from life's nectar, had fun and ended up shivering and hungry. When winter came, he had to go begging at the ant's door. At that point, you can take your pick of endings. Either the ant told him "tough luck" and he died or else the ant showed his kind nature and shared.
As we've watched large corporations getting handouts this winter, we've often wondered if it's worth it, to stay ants. In fact, I toyed with the idea of rewriting the fable to suit modern times.
Then I looked online and--whoa!--rewriting the ant and grasshopper story is something of a cottage industry.
Michelle Malkin claims a version that has made the rounds. In it, the tireless ant, which is supposed to be the workers, is beset by sneering grasshopper bankers who start a group that sounds like ACORN and demand access to easy credit and questionable mortgages and--wait. I guess in this version the ants are the martyred corporate bigwigs who later come with hands out to the government And the grasshoppers are...us?
Another site, Positive Liberty, takes a similar turn, mentioning Jesse Jackson, Oprah and Kermit the Frog and taking a little swipe at Republicans as well. Then the readers chime in with their own alternative versions.
I'm confused. We paid our bills and lived, with the exception of a family vacation and the dog's illness, within our means. When we refinanced, our mortgage payment went up, not down, so we would pay less in the long run. So I really don't think we're the grasshoppers. And I know for sure the top "talent" of GM and AIG, etc are not the ants.
So okay, I'll take a little crack at it.
There once was an intrepid little ant. Well, a colony of ants really, because these ants helped each other out. They didn't believe much in rugged individualism. When they all worked hard, they all reaped the benefits.
Anyway, these ants stayed at it all summer long, carrying food back and forth in single file for the good of the commune--ity.
Just across the meadow there was an arrogant grasshopper. This guy was a real user. Since he was so much bigger than the ants, it was easy to just stomp on them and bully them out of their food, and he did just that. The ants just shrugged and kept on working, though.
As summer passed, the grasshopper took more and more food from fewer and fewer ants. By September, he noticed something: There wasn't any more food to take.
The indignant grasshopper stormed to the ant colony to demand the ants get back to work. He was shocked by what he found. The ants were mostly dead from overwork, trying to feed both themselves and the grasshopper.
"Get up, get up!" the grasshopper cried. "How will I eat if you don't get back to work?"
A small voice rasped from nearby. "When you work, you should reap the benefits."
There you have it. A communist ant and grasshopper story. That was fun.
Should we be ants or grasshoppers?
You remember the Aesop fable. The busy ant kept his nose to the grindstone, stayed in line, did things right. When winter came, he was warm and well prepared. The grasshopper, meantime, drank deep from life's nectar, had fun and ended up shivering and hungry. When winter came, he had to go begging at the ant's door. At that point, you can take your pick of endings. Either the ant told him "tough luck" and he died or else the ant showed his kind nature and shared.
As we've watched large corporations getting handouts this winter, we've often wondered if it's worth it, to stay ants. In fact, I toyed with the idea of rewriting the fable to suit modern times.
Then I looked online and--whoa!--rewriting the ant and grasshopper story is something of a cottage industry.
Michelle Malkin claims a version that has made the rounds. In it, the tireless ant, which is supposed to be the workers, is beset by sneering grasshopper bankers who start a group that sounds like ACORN and demand access to easy credit and questionable mortgages and--wait. I guess in this version the ants are the martyred corporate bigwigs who later come with hands out to the government And the grasshoppers are...us?
Another site, Positive Liberty, takes a similar turn, mentioning Jesse Jackson, Oprah and Kermit the Frog and taking a little swipe at Republicans as well. Then the readers chime in with their own alternative versions.
I'm confused. We paid our bills and lived, with the exception of a family vacation and the dog's illness, within our means. When we refinanced, our mortgage payment went up, not down, so we would pay less in the long run. So I really don't think we're the grasshoppers. And I know for sure the top "talent" of GM and AIG, etc are not the ants.
So okay, I'll take a little crack at it.
There once was an intrepid little ant. Well, a colony of ants really, because these ants helped each other out. They didn't believe much in rugged individualism. When they all worked hard, they all reaped the benefits.
Anyway, these ants stayed at it all summer long, carrying food back and forth in single file for the good of the commune--ity.
Just across the meadow there was an arrogant grasshopper. This guy was a real user. Since he was so much bigger than the ants, it was easy to just stomp on them and bully them out of their food, and he did just that. The ants just shrugged and kept on working, though.
As summer passed, the grasshopper took more and more food from fewer and fewer ants. By September, he noticed something: There wasn't any more food to take.
The indignant grasshopper stormed to the ant colony to demand the ants get back to work. He was shocked by what he found. The ants were mostly dead from overwork, trying to feed both themselves and the grasshopper.
"Get up, get up!" the grasshopper cried. "How will I eat if you don't get back to work?"
A small voice rasped from nearby. "When you work, you should reap the benefits."
There you have it. A communist ant and grasshopper story. That was fun.
Tomorrow: Insects continued.(Note to literal-minded readers: I've always been pretty direct, haven't I? If I have problems with particular people, I just come out and say it. So read this at with that in mind. It is an allegory. About the bailouts. And insects.)
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