Blog 9: Lazy ants effects

The first time I heard about the ‘lazy ant effect’ was when I was a freshman in high school, and I had been intrigued by it and benefited from this effect significantly henceforth. The lazy ants effect was found when Japan Evolutionary Research group, the Hokkaido University, observed the lazy ants those did noting all day when there was enough food. But when the ant’s food sources were cut off, they could lead other ‘diligent ‘ants to find new resources of food. In fact, these lazy ants spent most of their time on ‘reconnaissance’ and ‘research’ and observed the weakness in the organization, making a good influence on their groups. Normally, most people hold the view that lazy people like lazy ants should be contempt and punished, because they do nothing good for others but demand a lot from their society. However, as far as I’m concerned, laziness is superficial; wisdom is essential.

    Actually, lazy ants are not lazy as we see. They may be very idle when nothing happens but fulfill very crucial roles once there is a crisis, such as a company’s administrator. They can be likened to an eraser in a stationery case. Most of time, it is not used, lying in the case idly; nevertheless, when there are errors, it will identify them and correct them immediately. Should there not be it, the errors would cause a great deal of trouble to us.
    Chery, a famous automobile corporation in China, had indeed employed some ‘lazy ants’ at the beginning to be technicians, who were attached little importance to and even thought to be obsolete by their former employers because their previous companies solely want to get short term profits by processing and assembling for some transnational corporations. However, chery took them in and owing to these lazy ants’ assistance, chery has become black horse and is currently among top ten in China mainland. From this it can be drawn that ‘lazy ants’ are most of time thought to lazy by improvident people. Contrary to this myth, they can play great role in a company’s development and prosperity.
        What is learnt from this effect has also benefited me tremendously and has broadened my thinking remarkably. I gradually discovered from my study life that it was true to work hard for courses but should not do so excessively. In other words, I should also relocate a portion of time for sports or recreation; otherwise, I would be overwhelmed by the oceans of homework and got mislead. There must be some time necessary for me to be a lazy ant, and to know out of the box where I am, what I am doing and what’s wrong with my current situation as well as whether I am in the correct direction towards my goal. Additionally, getting out of regular routines and being like a lazy ant also help me think problems in a creative way. I still remember many math problems, which has puzzled me for such a long time that however much effort I put I could not work it out, have been unexpectedly solved during my being ‘lazy’. In fact, being lazy seemingly does not mean being so inward. Lazy ants may be thinking new ways of finding resources of food.
    To sum up, lazy ant effect can be applied to almost all aspects of our life. It can slow down your over-quick heart pace, relieve our tension, liberate our thinking, and give us inspiration and so on. In this fast-paced modern society, being lazy is not shameful; conversely, it is of wisdom.