If you're a fan of Aesop's Fables, you will recall the story of the Grasshopper and the Ant. Briefly, the Grasshopper fiddled all summer, while the Ant stored up food for the coming winter. When winter came, the Ant refused to let the Grasshopper in, so the Grasshopper died, alone, cold, hungry, and no doubt regretting the error of his ways ... but too late to pass it on his children, I suspect.
Ah, well; we all must die. And Ants cannot be expected to act like Christians. As Ogden Nash noted:
The Ant has made himself illustrious
through constant industry industrious.
So what?
Would you be calm and placid
If you were full of formic acid?
Biology really is destiny, you see; the Ant couldn't help his industry and the Grasshopper couldn't conquer his indolence.
My husband and I are Grasshoppers. (We have raised two children; one is a Grasshopper and one is a Grasshopper trying to recreate herself as an Ant.) I'm fairly happy with my Grasshopper nature; at 57, I now know that I'm never going to get all my chores done on Saturday so I can enjoy Sunday. I'm going to loaf all day Saturday and realize on Sunday that I don't have time to do my chores, so must put them off for another week. (But I'll find time for dinner out, a movie, and several games of Spider solitaire.)
Climate plays a part, I think (although I'm related to many Florida Ants.) If you live in a harsh environment, you're not going to put off fixing that alternator or roof leak, or buying milk and bread. You're going to hustle your butt right down to the appropriate vendor and Take Care Of It. We grew up in Florida, so we tend to think we can take care of stuff any time, no rush, no hurry. (Well, except roof leaks; there's really no wait-and-see, relax-don't-worry about roof leaks - except in the dry seasons, of course; you can wait 'til the first good rain ...)
If the house gets in too much of a mess we can always move.
But sometimes you do have to "knuckle down, buckle down, and do it, do it, do it," as Roger Miller sang. So you put down the fiddle and set off, back straight, head up, eyes clear.
But you're still a Grasshopper. You're just a Grasshopper with delusions of Ant-ness.
