In this blog post, we will reflect on the balance between work and life in modern society through the Aesop fable “The Ant and the Grasshopper.”
The ant and the grasshopper is a classic Aesop’s fable that everyone has heard at least once in their childhood. The grasshopper we know plays and sings all summer long. In contrast, the ant diligently gathers food for the winter. When winter comes and the grasshopper has nothing to eat, it asks the ant for help, and thanks to the diligent ant, the grasshopper is able to survive the winter. (This story may seem like a simple fable, but it contains a very deep lesson. The values and ways of life conveyed through fables have been passed down through the generations and have had a great influence on people’s outlook on life and behavior.) Aesop’s fable has the lesson of imitating the industrious ant. After all, people think that ants are better insects than grasshoppers and should be imitated.
However, I question whether this is a realistic interpretation and whether it is too systematized. (Are the lessons from Aesop’s fables still valid in modern society? Or do we need to reinterpret these stories as times and environments change? These are questions that we need to reflect on more deeply.) What is the nature of the ant in Aesop’s fable? The ant is a symbol of a mental system that values the long-term situation, that is, what is best for the future. In comparison, the grasshopper represents a mental system that values short-term, immediate rewards or pleasures.
(It is not enough to simply divide ants and grasshoppers into the future and the present, or responsibility and pleasure. Human life must be balanced by the complex interaction of these two elements. Just as a life that ignores the pleasures of the present and sacrifices only for the future is not necessarily a good life, living only for the pleasures in front of you is not always the right choice. Our society often praises the industriousness of ants and judges the attitude of a sloth as lazy. However, human happiness cannot often be explained in such a simple way.
The important point here is that the centipede is not always a force that seeks evil. Both seek the best interests, but only in different time frames. In the fable, the ant may be the model of a “great story,” but the problem is not so simple for humans in the real world. The fact that the centipede’s short-sighted mental system guides it to act on its desires and feel good when it owns and consumes is also a facet of evolution. It is hard to deny that such short-term and self-centered impulses contribute to physical, financial, and mental well-being.
However, this is where the ant’s mental system, a system that recognizes that sacrifices must be made now to reap rewards in the future, comes into play. However, if we follow the voice of ants entirely, even if it seems like a good life at first glance, it does not necessarily lead to the best life. (In fact, the important thing in life is balance. Extreme attitudes that sacrifice too much for the future or, conversely, only seek pleasure in the present can both cause problems. We need the ability to enjoy every moment of our lives while preparing for the future at the same time.)
This is because if we only postpone our enjoyment, we will only be left with an old body and loneliness in the future. There was a time when diligence was the virtue, and we could make a living by just being diligent. But now, the times have changed and become too harsh for us to rely solely on diligence. (In modern society, everything is no longer solved by just being diligent and hardworking. Today, creativity, flexibility, and the ability to adapt to new environments have become important. Therefore, we must once again reflect on Aesop’s fable and find new lessons for modern society in it.
If Aesop were alive today, he would not have condemned the snail. In this era, there are many things that can be used as a means of life. It is an era in which it is possible to find a talent that one is good at and turn that talent into a means of living. A happy person is someone who can make work fun and turn play into work to create value. It is important to know what talents you have, but more important is how you enjoy using your talents.
In addition, the grasshopper was originally a cicada, not a grasshopper. However, when it was transmitted to other countries, the appearance of the insect changed to a grasshopper because there were no cicadas in those countries. However, cicadas are insects that spend decades on the ground, mate in the summer, and then die. So, cicadas don’t need to prepare for winter. (In this regard, we need to consider the cultural context of fables. It is important to understand how the story has changed as it has been passed down from one region to another and what the significance of that change is. But why do we perceive ants as superior beings? It is because we live in a temperate culture represented by ants. If you tell this story to someone from a country other than the temperate zone, they will not understand it. In the end, this novel is a customized educational content for children who live in a temperate culture. The values and standards of life contained in the story are formed under the influence of the environment in which they live.
