09/10/2025
NONE OF US WILL SINK WHILE WE STAND TOGETHER!!
(this is definitely worth the read - I promise!)
"In the photograph below, dozens of ants have gathered into a single living raft on the water’s surface. Each insect is locked leg-to-leg and body-to-body, forming a tangled tapestry of tiny creatures. Not one is struggling or alone; they have built themselves a buoyant island out of solidarity. In that still water, they move as one, an astonishing testament to shared sacrifice. ...this is no act of selfish escape, but a communal rescue mission."
" Scientists have marveled at this very sight. Entomologists call such behavior “altruistic” – literally ants acting as a single super-organism. In the lab, researchers saw that no single ant is in charge when these rafts form. Instead, each one instinctively takes a turn swimming or floating, so every member of the colony survives. Even the queen and the youngest brood are carried safely on top – all members of the colony, from eggs and larvae to worker and queen, rise together. It’s as if their instinctive empathy says: “None of us will sink while we stand together.”
"How different from human crises! We often panic and hoard, focusing only on ourselves. Entire nations have shown an ugly willingness to sacrifice strangers while scrambling for safety. Worse, we habitually place ourselves above other animals – an arrogance known as speciesism. In fact, philosophers describe speciesism as a prejudice “for our own group, similar to racism and sexism”. We give ourselves moral priority just for being human, even when other beings feel fear and pain just as we do. But the ants in the bottle teach us there’s no logic in that bias. To them, every tiny life was worth saving. They had no hierarchy of value: worker, baby, or queen – each was equally precious on that raft."
From a simple water bottle, the lesson is clear: compassion and unity must come first, for all creatures. The ants show us that even the smallest beings will support each other without complaint, without expecting glory. If insects can act so nobly, surely we humans can learn to protect one another – and all animals – with the same unspoken loyalty. The quiet lifeboat in glass reminds us that life on Earth is interconnected: no one, no creature, should be left behind or treated as expendable. In honoring that truth, we defeat speciesism and embrace a better kind of kindness.
Ultimately, the world’s survival depends on our willingness to carry each other’s burdens, to see every life as worthy. The ants on that tabletop became teachers in humility: they show that true strength lies in lifting others. Their silent raft of bodies is a call to end cruelty and end the lie that one species is more important than another. Let us learn from their example – to stand together, to share our burdens and our compassion, just as they did, float by float, in that plastic bottle of water. "
