:::+ This is a story about a colony of ants+:::

Long long time ago, there existed a colony of ants. Each day was carried out in a monotony of endless routines & tasks. In this colony lived a Queen Ant, her aides who were also known as the Generals, the Worker Ants and the Baby Ants.

Each day, the Queen Ant, her Generals & the Worker Ants worked extremely hard to run the colony - to ensure the survival of the entire colony and that the Baby Ants grow healthy & strong.

There was no day which was without its headaches & heartaches. Most often, there would be wayward Baby Antz who caused trouble in the colony and needed to be disciplined. Sometimes, there would be Baby Antz who fell ill & could not grow in a wholesome manner. Then of course there would be a majority of Baby Antz who would happily & unknowingly grew, became strong and some eventually even joined the Worker Ants.

One day, there was trouble brewing in the colony. It was, not unusual, to have trouble because every day, the Queen Ant, her generals & the Worker Ants would be busy chasing after the naughty Baby Antz. But on this day, the problem was different.

Two Worker Antz, Zee & Dee discovered that a group of Baby Antz were staying beneath a big rock which was looming over them. Initially, it seemed that the big rock was pretty stable & nobody actually thought the huge rock would cause any trouble. Morever, though the rock did not seem that huge, it would still take a fair number of worker antz to remove it.

However as the days went by, Zee & Dee discovered that Rock was shaking & bits from the Rock were falling onto the Baby Antz. Several of the little ones were injured.

Panic-Strickened, Zee & Dee shrieked & informed the Generals. The Generals ummed & arghhed .. and shook their heads. They said "Lets wait some more".

The other Worker Antz were either too busy to care or cant be bothered to care. After all, it's not THEIR Baby ants .. why should they be concerned? Some Worker Antz even nonchalantly dismissed the issue saying, "It's just the nature of a Rock to crumble and fall..." Some even suggested vehemently, "Let's blow up the Rock!"

By this time, a beautiful flower had found a place in a cleft in the rock and began growing & blooming. As Zee & Dee surveyed the site each day, they couldnt help but marvel & admire the beauty of the flower which had somehow found life in such a seemingly desperate situation. As much as Zee & Dee worried for their Baby Ants, they grew to love the gorgeous flower. Often, Dee would take time to water the flower and take pleasure in seeing it blossom.

The next day, a bigger piece of the rock fell & crushed a Baby Ant. This time, Zee & Dee could take it no longer & ran to inform the Queen Ant. But the Queen was so terrible busy - overwhelmed by the many recent cases of bad Baby Ants that she did not realise the severity of the problem. She was nursing a terrible headache a recent heavy rainfall which had damaged the nest had caused her. She ummed and arhhed & shook her head and said, "Let's wait and see".

The two Worker Antz left disheartened, feeling helpless. Looking at each other in despair and worry, they whispered ... "What if the Rock falls & crushed our Baby antz today?? What do we do?? What can we do?"

The next day, Zee decided to send an urgent cry of help to the Queen Ant. The Queen Ant trooped down with one of her most capable General to the site to take a look & together, they were horrified. The Queen immidiately ordered the evacuation of the Baby Antz and for the Big Rock to be removed.

Zee & Dee sighed a deep sigh of relief. However, they soon jolted in realisation that the removal of the Rock would possibly mean the demise of their beloved flower. Was it a right thing to do in the end? they wondered. "Should we let the Rock stay & the flower continue to bloom?"

Eventually it was decided that the Rock will be removed & the beautiful flower began to demise. Zee & Dee felt their hearts ached as though someone had stabbed them deep in their hearts. They began to weep sorrowfully. Some of the Baby Antz who had grown to love the flower during this time began to shed tears.

As the colony of ants continued in the flury of activities, there in the corner was a flower weeping.