Ted Rall for November 28, 2009
November 26, 2009
November 30, 2009
Transcript:
Woman: How was school? Woman 2: We watched a video of the president telling us to study hard. You know, to prepare for the jobs of the future.
The story of Nis-Ant-argadatt the ant talks about how this little ant was strolling about on top of a dinner table when all of the sudden, in its blind, weird universe of chemistry scents, it detected a structure and climbed upon it.
Nis-Ant never wondered what it was because it could not detect it, but most importantly, because ants are devoid of abstract thinking–for an ant is just an ant after all. The ant did several laps around a beautifully decorated vase and then was put back near its nest by an external observer that had felt pity for the ant, for it was far away from home.
But again, Nis-Ant was not able to be grateful for the mysterious deliverance, not only because it was unable to feel gratitude, for ants are just ants after all, but because it never understood what had happened since it had no concept, among many other things, of what a “mysterious deliverance” is, for the ant was just a simple ant living in its blind, weird universe of chemical scents. The observer did not need any of the ant’s gratitude however, as he was content to see it live free. The observer was some kind of a Buddhist in this regard. Nis-Ant lived happily ever after in its nest, or at least until it was killed by a Non-Buddhist’s insecticide days later.