A New Take on The Ants and The Grasshopper ~ Annapolis Capital Punishment
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Saturday, March 13, 2010

A New Take on The Ants and The Grasshopper

The below was sent to me by a loyal reader, and though I well recall and often reflect upon  the fable,  this modern rewrite presents a new twist. I cannot say that I completely agree with it, but I do believe that it points out some important concerns about how we manage our society and government. For one thing, this story simply blames victims based on the assumption that we have equality and equal opportunity in the first place. This fable also takes potshots against Democrats and the perceived "liberal" media. This I do not believe. However, I do believe that we can and have gone too far in creating an entitlement society whereby we seem to have forgotten that ultimately, you and I are responsible for our actions. Many of us live by delaying gratification to study and work and serve and build wealth. Others act as if the haves must give to the have-nots The arguments are complex:, but perhaps this little fable will engage readers to contemplate as we engage in a hot local debate about whether some people are entitled to government jobs.

THE ANT AND THE GRASSHOPPER

This one is a little different.... Two Different Versions.... Two Different Morals
 
OLD VERSION
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The 
grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

Come winter, the 
ant is warm and well fed.   read on...
The 
grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.
MORAL OF THE STORY: Be responsible for yourself!
 
MODERN VERSION
The ant works hard in the withering heat and the rain all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The 
grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

Come winter, the shivering 
grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while he is cold and starving.

CBS, NBC , PBS, CNN,
 and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food. 
America is stunned by the sharp contrast. 
How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

Kermit the Frog
 appears on Oprah with the grasshopper and everybody cries when they sing, 'It's Not Easy Being Green.'
ACORN stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the news stations film the group singing, “We shall overcome.” Then Rev. Jeremiah Wright has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper's  sake.  
President Obama condemns the ant and blames President Bush, President Reagan, Christopher Columbus, and the Pope for the grasshopper's plight.

Nancy Pelosi & Harry Reid
 exclaim in an interview with Larry King that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share.

Finally, the 
EEOC drafts the Economic Equity & Anti-Grasshopper Act retroactive to the beginning of the summer.

The 
ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the Government Green Czar and given to the grasshopper.

The story ends as we see the 
grasshopper and his free-loading friends finishing up the last bits of the ant’s food while the government house he is in, which, as you recall, just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around them because the grasshopper doesn't maintain it.

The 
ant has disappeared in the snow, never to be seen again.

The 
grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident, and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the ramshackle, once prosperous and once peaceful, neighborhood.

The entire 
Nation collapses bringing the rest of the free world with it.
MORAL OF THE STORY:  Be careful how you vote in 2010.
 
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1 Comment:

Tim said...

In the new version the Ant would have made his money selling derivatives!

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