Ants are small insects. They vary in colour according to species. They are very active and strong for their size. They have a highly developed social organization. They are very industrious. They work ceaselessly.
Their industry is proverbial. We often say, “O idler, go to the ant and learn from it lessons of industry.” During the harvesting season in summer, they are feverishly at work. They work as a team in a most disciplined manner. They work slowly and steadily. They store enough grain for winter when it is severely cold and when it is difficult to move out.
Every school boy knows the story of the Ant and the Cricket. A silly young cricket sang and danced away the sunny months of summer and spring and complained bitterly, when he found his cupboard empty in winter.
Pinched with hunger, he went to the ant to beg a grain for himself. The ant replied that they were neither borrowers nor lenders and asked him what he had been doing during summer and spring. Hearing the cricket’s reply, the ant advised him to dance away the winter too.
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“If you live without work, you must live without food.”
The ant teaches us that industry is the key to success in life. Without hard work nothing can be achieved in this world. Great men of the world rose to fame and fortune by dint of strenuous labour and perseverance. Illustrious scientists like Newton, Kelvin, J. C. Bose and others had to work hard before their genius was recognized and their works duly esteemed by single the world.
The ant reminds us every-day that there is no royal road to success. The road to success is full of difficulties and obstacles. Industry alone enables us to surmount these difficulties and rise to eminence. Industry leads to success. It increases our capacity for work. It rouses our dormant faculties into activity.
It expands our mind and improves our health. For an idle man rolling in wealth, the pleasures of life have no charm and attraction. It is industry that adds to our joy and gives a healthy tone to our life. Success in any undertaking is wholly due to labour and industry. Honest toil never goes unrewarded and the efforts of a man who labours hard are sure to be crowned with success at last.
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The richest and the most powerful nations in the world are the most diligent and industrious. In America, Germany and England people work much harder than we do. Every Indian is indolent by nature. He has a streak of idleness in him. He is fond of ease and comfort. If we want to catch up with the progressive countries of the world, we have also to work hard. Without hard toil, we can never dream of improving the country’s lot which is not at all enviable.