What do they know that I don’t?

I was leaving the “friendly bean” (not a place - but a weekly meet-up in Peachland with chat and coffee) this morning when something on the pavement stopped me. Check the video - it might stop you too.

These ants were NOT wandering. They were attending to something. Something I could not see.

I looked. I scanned for the obvious explanation (spilled sugar, the dropped crumb)…. There was nothing. Nothing I could see.

Me: “What do they know that I don't?”

Attending to the signal

They were responding to a signal; a pheromone trail, a vibration underfoot, something chemical that my senses simply aren't built to receive. The source was real. My inability to perceive it didn’t make it any less so.

The reminder for me? The risk of trusting only our own perception more than the evidence in front of us. If we cannot see what the fuss is about, we conclude there is no fuss worth seeing. But the ants reminded me - the signal is real, even if you cannot see the source.

PS: This mini essay is brought to you by my favourite Friday ritual. Sleep in. Coffee with my partner Garth. The friendly-bean. Writing at the Okanagan Folk School. Which is where I am right now, looking out the window at the lake where I enjoyed my morning visit with some friends, and paused to learn from the ants…..