Tiny Teachers
M Alan Roberts

Right now I am sitting on a large, flat rock in the middle of the woods in northeast Georgia - my laptop out of place. I come here to gel with nature and get away from all of the commonly accepted meanings for living. I come here for solitude and introspection. I come here for peace. As a natural symphony of birds, insects and animals performs exquisitely for my ears, I am likewise delighted by the aesthetic value of my surroundings.

While the moderately-thick canopy above protects me from the 95 degree plus temperatures outside of the woods, the floor of leaves and dead-fall trees grants me profound insight as to the true meaning of life.

I lift a leaf, then another - one at a time.

I am soon rewarded with a small-scale ecosystem - a gathering of minute creatures living in harmony - all helping one another. From the largest, which I strain to see, to the littlest, which I cannot, all work in conjunction to ensure that life goes on for each.

I consider my human world and feel ashamed.

These tiny biological entities put my human brethren and me in check by displaying mutual compassion and the willingness to share their resources. There is no ownership here; no trespassing and no barbarism. Foreign invaders that arrive with the intent to do harm to the community's life cycle are fought, destroyed and made to be a part of the food reserves for all to indulge upon. The goal here, in this tiny life system that I have discovered, is quite simplistic: to live in harmony and to experience the greatest mutual bliss possible.

I think of the human wars that are constantly waged around the globe. I think about how, after the Cuban Missile Crisis, the USSR and America used third world countries (insects to them) to wage the wars that they feared. I consider how these "superpowers" used the weak, meek and uneducated to instill widespread repression and control. I grow sick when I see clearly that these tiny creatures in the drought-ridden woods of Georgia demonstrate more intelligence, fortitude and decency than the vast majority of humans. I grow sicker still when I consider sects of people who, ruled by peace and their desire for simplistic harmony, like the Tibetans, are forced to surrender their heritage and ethnic codes because of these same greedy patterns of warring behavior.

When I walk down a city street, people are often afraid to meet my well-wishing acknowledgment. They turn their heads from the eyes of a stranger. They live in constant fear that I am one of the foreign invaders that exist to do them harm; to take away their bliss. Apparently, they are unaware that I embrace the tiny creatures of the planet. They understand not that I am at one with the lessons that I have learned from these "lesser" beings. They fail to understand that all that I wish for them is the ability to see clearly and rid themselves of the distortion that is ruining their chances for happiness.

I believe, deep down, that there is no hope. I feel that we humans are doomed to a blissless present - and future.

So here I sit on a rock. My companions are insects and animals. With each failed attempt to embrace my human brethren, I am pushed further into the woods. I am banished from mainstream civilization - not by others, but by my own choosing. I am sure that there would be no problem just existing in the midst of the masses. I just don't want to anymore. Instead, I am happy, blissful in fact, to sit quietly with my tiny friends and share in their mutually beneficial community. Here, I am at one with a valuable conglomeration of organized intelligence. Here, I am free to live without judgment. Here, I too, belong.