Ants at the Picnic
M Alan Roberts

The way to understanding humans is long, arduous and most often completely futile to the striving sage.

A benevolent mother may study her child for decades, lovingly wanting to anticipate its every need, only to end up being scorned from the child, in adult form. An honest man may patiently and dutifully provide, through the years, for the woman he loves, simply to find that one day she's gone, off frolicking the landscape, newly betrothed. The psychiatrist devotes his or her life to analyzing, medicating and counseling mentally ill patients, in the end, realizing she or he never helped. None of them every really advanced to real success, only lingered in misery, struggling to achieve what others deemed suitably normal.

I'm coming to believe there are too many people on the planet, with too many different belief systems, to get along together. Add how hatred and warring are widely emphasized; an international scourge issuing from countries, such as the U.S., where everything is supposed to be so damn peaceful, free and glorious.

We are encouraged to be unique and that's good. For so many, though, there is no teaching or encouragement about avoiding ethnocentricity. Droves of people are marauding through the world attempting desperately to not just fade away in the same poverty they have lived in. These free-booting invaders are not internally guided as is a loving mother, a dedicated man or a genuine psychiatrist. Instead they are without moral compasses; they don't even have any intentions of decency. Every day, all day long, they keep breeding, multiplying in perpetual oblivion to the chaos they create for anyone who may actually deserve a fair share of this planet's limited resources.

In the cities, millions conglomerate to capitalize on their chances to prosper from those around them, disguising their true intentions behind politically correct norms, such as networking, setting up not-for-profits and honoring the current military. Most never find the reward they expect and feel they deserve. That causes a big, stinky array of human action side-effects, including assaulting, stealing, raping, killing and the rest. In the rural areas, people can no longer leave the doors and windows unlocked.

The result is loads and loads of new police, probation officers, social workers, government employees and others put in positions to dominate the actions of others. The controllers have to increase their numbers to maintain control. To not do so would mean certain revolution and uncontrolled rebellion against the establishment.

The result is an ever increasing number of people who are arrested, convicted and jailed for minor crimes. Women and men busted down by overzealous enforcers who abuse the powers of their shields. Enforcers, who need oversight, but get none.

On a wider scale, the Libyans have finally stood up and demanded fair treatment. They flat out had enough and took it to the streets. They attacked the government and took over because they could no longer even be interested in living under such repression. Across the way, mass human graves in the Sudan continue to grow so large that they are being spotted from space.  The brutality and suffering the worldwide community allows to continue is reprehensible. But there will be no changing those in control; not without a healthy dose of that beautiful Libyan philosophy hitting the mainstream consciousness. Perhaps the governments, in the richest countries, also feel, as do I, that there are just too many ants at this picnic. Did you ever think maybe they're trying to wipe us out; to get rid of us worthless pests?

The leaders of people, as always, will continue to overstep their authority for self- gains. This is power, not the authority they were granted. Most leader care nothing about what's positive for all humanity, only what’s good for them and their family or friends.

There's going to be a lot happening very soon that governments won't know how to manage. People, us ants, are getting more intelligent. Misinformation is being righted. Cover ups are exposed. Politicians are constantly scrutinized. Technology is on the side of the small people, at least for now. When it gets too much for them to manage by feeding us lies and ignoring us, when the people truly rise up together and demand real change, the government will react violently. They will induce loads of misery on us in the form of military law, increased police brutality; creating record numbers of new “criminals” and, of course, milking every single penny from our impoverished pockets as they can.

And still, through it all, the average mother will be too engrossed in the awe of watching her precious, ever-grateful young ones to even notice the collapse. The loyal man, with thoughts centered lustfully, will not see the crackdown. The psychiatrist will be too consumed with unraveling the evil human mind to know that his freedoms are being stripped. In fact, almost everyone will be overly engrossed in their own busy lives to give any serious consideration to the desperate measures of a failing government that's trying to squash them into complete societal servitude. Will you notice? Because it's happening to you and everyone you know and love, right now.

Take back your right to picnic at will. Become a formidable ant.