Musings Of A Person Docked For Too Long-May 2007

These are the musings of a philosopher who has been at a dock too long. Last night I happened to be awake after sunset which is my normal time to go to bed and then arise with the sun at 6 AM. I decided I would go and sit on the shore of the East River and watch what goes on at night. My special cultivated interest turned to, of course, the drydocked navy destroyer across from the docks. I am interested because I hope that at least as payment for me being here so long they will float the ship soon so I can watch that process. As I watched her sitting there quietly at night out of her element my eye was focused on the bridge deck and with its night lights on it looked like a very evil being sitting there and getting ready to pounce the moment she is let out of the docks. Like don’t get in my way I eat people like you for breakfast. Then I begin to notice that just like a sleeping giant there is activity day and night aboard her. As my eyes adjusted to the light I could see people moving about like they were doing secret things in the middle of the night. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks, I was watching a red ant hill; as in Texas red ants that was about to explode and give someone or anyone a few very itchy bites. If you know what a rain in Texas called a “frog strangler” is then you can visualize this at its best. There are these ants living in this thing called a billet box and ever so often they change up to see who does the best job of getting even for all of this rain and fog they are having to endure. Yes my thoughts are occurring as the fog is getting eerier and thicker by the moment and buildings are disappearing but this evil red eye keeps peering through the fog at you. Anyhow, the ants come out of the box and climb the steps to the edge of the drydock and then up another flight of steps to the middle of the hill on the ship. Then they disappear below and this lift crane feeds them day and night because if it doesn't the worker ants get more and more upset. This morning at change time here come the night ants out of the mound and down to the billet box and up goes the day crew but the eye still looks evil even if its night lights are now off. As usual, the lead ant for the day comes out, goes to the bow and proceeds to raise the battle flag after he says a mantra which I cannot hear. This morning he has problems, his battle flag won’t raise and he has to ask for help, not good in the land of super ants. His next duty is to raise the national flag of the colony and then he goes into the middle of the colony for the day. He probably was disciplined for the slow rise of the battle flag. Then later on the civilian ants arrive to aid the ants dressed in blue. These ants come in many colors and different kinds of ant skills I would imagine and probably think the blue ants don’t know what they are doing anyway. This goes on all over the port every day and it is even going on when most people are asleep. Most of the ants in this world we live in don’t care whether this other group of ants exists. It knows that their taxes pay for them and as long they pay taxes this group of ants better produce. There are metal ants running all over at night supplying the other group of ants that is asleep. Without these ants going hither and yon and delivering all sorts of products these ants deem necessary to function with, namely fuel, sand and gravel and other things not showing; the ants of the bigger colony would probably protest and march until they got the chief ant of the country involved and then things would go much slower as they have now got the government ants mad and they have decided that if the ants they represent would just pay them more money they would take care of this whole mess. If you just think of the USA as an ant hill and start reading National Geographic articles on them you get a much clearer picture of what this country is all about. Right now even though I am suffering through a time at the docks and know that more adventure lies ahead it also provides time for thoughts such as those above and when you look at things in a simple manner you can see how we just make getting to the ant hill such a big problem in our lives. If only every one would quit trying to be the leader ant it would be helpful but even ant leaders will tell you that isn’t going to happen because we all think we are capable of being the leader of all the ants. Then there are those like me who are just lying back traveling around the country and as we go we are free to check out the ants of different sections. There is even competition between the crab pot ants on that level to see who can put the most pots in the channel to irritate us traveler ants on there waterway who think we own it because are buying gas in each of there constituencies so that we might see this competition up close and personal each day. As a traveler ant I am finding that ant refills are costing more and more as I travel northward in search of ant heaven and then southward again toward the gentler more serene waterways of antdom. All the way is fraught with different things and exceptions to the normal ways that ants live. As I have said before in my writing I am sure that I am looking at the backside of America that no one usually sees and that some of it is very beautiful and some of it really stinks. This is my mantra and I am sticking by it and have the soggy boxes and bedding on the boat to prove it this morning, I need a strong breeze to clear the air and someone please come and cut up the Velcro at my dock. One day soon I will bow to the head weather ant and hope he is right and I will have a fair day with no wind and waves if any on my backside and even though this will make all the sailing ants mad it will make this one happy ant and, please no fog or glowing evil ants in my stern view. I mean these are huge and can wreak mighty havoc with little Shorty. Until next time just think of ants, how little they are and what they can achieve