Rude awakenings

Childhood's horizons are fairly simple, flat and uncluttered except for imagination; adulthood looms in the far, foggy distance like something you know is there but seems so alien to you that it might as well just be a trick of the light. It catches us off-guard and we discover that there are really only two types of people in this world: the grasshopper and the ant, to use one of Aesop and La Fontaine's sharp allegories.

I wanted to be smart and be like the ant but my nature trumped my fancy and to my dismay I discovered that I've been a lot more like the grasshopper so far in the sense that I didn't learn - and didn't understand until fairly recently - the importance and value of such things as long-term commitment, or sticking to something long enough to see one's efforts bear fruit. Yet what struck me more in this self-discovery affaire wasn't so much the revelation of who I was compared to who I thought I was or wished to be, it was the uncanny way in which I only seem able to find out more about my person in hindsight - looking back and assessing damage and successes alike.

These thoughts came to me as I was taking a long walk across town, sheltered under my umbrella as rain pelted the ground, a list of 'things-to-get'  for my next hiking adventure tucked safely inside my handbag.

"After this, that's it. Time to get on with the long-term aspects of life," I told myself.

Then I rolled my eyes and thought: "Well, we'll see."
 

The Grasshopper and the Ant 

The Grasshopper having sung
All the summer long,
Found herself lacking food
When the North Wind began its song.
Not a single little piece
Of fly or grub did she have to eat.
She went complaining of hunger
To the Ant's home, her neighbour,
Begging there for a loan
Of some grain to keep herself alive
Til the next season did arrive,
"I shall pay you," she said
"Before next August, on my word as an animal.
I'll pay both interest and pricipal."
The Ant was not so inclined: this not being one of her faults.
"What did you do all summer?
Said she to the grasshopper.
"Night and day I sang, I hope that does not displease you."
"You sang? I will not look askance.
But now my neighbour it's time to dance."
 - English translation found online of La Cigale et la Fourmi by Jean de la Fontaine