Mindset story: Are you prepared for what is to come - The ant and grasshopper parable

There once lived a very special ant. Unlike other ants who lived in colonies and depended on each other, this ant lived on its own and always worked hard to be prepared for anything that it could anticipate. One summer the ant finally made a “friend”. It was a beautiful summer day when a grasshopper hopped around lazily in the grass. The grasshopper was warm, had a full belly of food, and was singing to himself because life was good. While the grasshopper was enjoying the day, the ant was hard at work carrying grains and other food into its storage. On seeing the hardworking ant passing by, the grasshopper invited him to join him in sunbathing and eating food that was laying all around. The ant stopped for a moment and asked the grasshopper, “I would like to join you very much, but I’m not done yet with my preparations for the winter. Are you prepared for the winter?” The grasshopper just smiled and responded, “My dear friend you need to relax a little bit and enjoy the moment.”

During the summer the ant was work hard all day, each and every day, collecting food while the grasshopper enjoyed the bright summer days. Almost every day the grasshopper would look at the ant and laugh. “Why do you work so hard, dear ant? Come, rest for a while, listen to my song. Summer is here, the days are long and bright. Why waste the sunshine working?” The ant simply answered “I am preparing for winter. I need enough food and a well-built shelter to get me through hard times. What about you dear grasshopper, are you prepared or how do you imagine surviving the winter?”

“Why should I bother about winter?” said the Grasshopper; “We have plenty of food available now, just look, it’s all around us. I can lay here for a whole day and not eat everything, and then tomorrow I just move a little bit and I have plenty of food again. Plus my dear ant the summer is long and we have a lot more time to get ready.” The ant saw that it was no use to try to convince the grasshopper so it continued with its task to get prepared for the winter. The days went by fast and instead of working and preparing for the winter, the grasshopper preferred to dance, sing and play at its leisure. He did not realize that the wonderful summer days will not last forever.

Summer faded into autumn, and autumn turned into winter. The sun as quickly as it came up it went down, the days got shorter and the nights got longer. It became freezing cold, and snow began to fall. This winter was turning out to be one of the harshes winters anyone has ever seen. The grasshopper didn’t feel like singing and lying around in the open anymore and it realized that the ant was right about getting prepared. The only thing the grasshopper now wanted to do was find warm shelter and eat some food, any kind of food. With every day that passed the grasshopper kept repeating the words “are you prepared… are you prepared…,” and every time it asked that question it remembered how the ant worked so hard and how he enjoyed the sun and food.

The grasshopper finally mustered up the strength and courage to go find the ant and its shelter. Almost half a day’s journey the grasshopper stumbled upon the ants’ shelter and knocked on it. The ant answered and before the ant could say anything the grasshopper started pleading with the ant, “I hadn’t imagined that the winter would be so harsh and that there would be no food. I’m sorry my dear friend that I have not listened to you. I’m not prepared, but I have learned my lesson. Please let me in and share some food with me.” The ant took the grasshopper in and shared with him everything he had. And the grasshopper couldn’t believe how much food and how big of a shelter the ant had, so it asked him, “Why did you work so much and so hard to build and safe up so much of everything which you alone will definitely not us until the end of winter?” The ant smiled and replied, “My dear friend, do you remember what I have been asking you each and every day?” The grasshopper looked at the floor and replied “are you prepared for what is to come?” “That’s right,” said the ant and continued, “every day when I asked you that question and got your answer, I then asked myself a similar question – are you prepared to help your lazy friend or are you prepared to lose him? So you see dear grasshopper I was not prepared to let you die, and so I worked twice as much to build a big enough shelter and to have enough food to take you in and help you through the winter.”