Ants: Anti Social Distancing

These mad piles of little reddish brown ants keep cropping up outside our home and beyond, we have seen them on the side of the road, sidewalks, and playgrounds near us. Late spring to mid-August, these piles of little ants continue to appear above ground. I am not sure if they are newly hatched or just having a company picnic outside of their colonies, but I know one thing for sure--
These ants have never heard of social distancing! They seem to be thriving, and I am happy for them.
The kids like to see them too. They are going crazy, scrambling about.
Pretty interesting little creatures. They have a queen, yet she wears not a crown, so...no corona.
I couldn't resist touching the ant mass, so I lightly poked at a section of the ant party, the kids want to try, so I modeled just reaching out a finger and resting it lightly on a spot. Ants squiggled, kids giggled.
They are learning a lot about nature just from our backyard.
I think it is very important to teach children to respect and revere nature, and to be gentle to lifeforms from tiny to giant.
If they can feel empathy and care for the littlest insects they will surely be kind to animals of all shapes and sizes, even humans...our species is often the hardest to love, I think. Still, we are being with feelings, who need a purpose and to be part of something.
We thrive when we stick together. Ants seem to understand life better than we, especially in these crazy dismal pandemic days.
I wonder if things might be different if every human child learned to care for creatures great and small...
Wouldn't that be wonderful world

Sometimes