The ant
The Dali Lama said when asked how to raise a child was to teach her to be kind to insects. Today sipping tea on the terrace underneath the bougainvilla and grape arbor, an ant circled my foot – i flicked the ant away and it stumbled a few feet from me and then tried to move away but could not – i watched the ant struggling and thought how horrible i was for flicking that ant then said oh please, it is an ant for godsakes – then another ant came out and crawled rapidly over to the now dead body and began circling it in a frenzy as if it were crazy with grief and then when i thought i could not bear watching it anymore the grief stricken ant began dragging the dead ant body across the terrace to the little crevice it had come out of – at that point i was almost sick with grief over the little dead ant.