To bee or not to be, that is the question.
Along with its cousin the ant, bees may be the only authentic communist state worth studying. I think that their hives thrive, unlike ours, because each bee has a clearly defined role. Their roles are not seen as a curse, but as a welcomed contribution to the whole. A bee colony functions so majestically precisely because it contains only one Queen. Hundreds of drones and tens of thousands of workers.
Let’s look at the ratios:
1 to 1
1 to 100
1 to 10,000
Do you see it?
Bees have the secret blueprint. We need to borrow that blueprint and adapt it to our lives.
The bees work together for a common purpose. They are never disappointed in the roles or the talents they have been given. They don’t waste time or energy on things that don’t matter. They sting only to protect themselves. Their Queen leaves the hive and a new Queen assumes the role, when their numbers become so large, that one hive simply becomes unmanageable.
We need to be more like the bee.
1 to 1
The Queen Bee
That’s us.
If you’re not the Queen bee, then who the hell is running your life? Why do you let others dictate where your hive is, how it runs, or how much honey you deserve to have? Get your stinger ready and push back a little. Evolve a backbone and grow a sturdy spine.
1 to 100
We are the Drones.
As drones, we get to unleash our sexy mojo and get our groove on. Our task after all is to impregnate the Queen. It has to be done. It’s our job. It has been preordained by prophets of old. The survival of our species depends on us. Truly this is a thankless and tiresome duty, but dammit, someone has to do it, and it might as well be us. We should always be ready for the ultimate sacrifice.
We need to impregnate our dreams, our plans, our expectations, and our desires. They need to be in place, so that we have somewhere to go, or perhaps somewhere to return.
Notice the ratio here. Note how small it is. The excitement we get when we start something new is always brief and momentary. That pleasant giddiness or euphoria we get with a cold pint of beer or a sensual glass of wine, fades ever so quickly, and never last as long as we had hoped. What follows are usually empty calories and a litany of wasted time.
1 to 10,000
The Workers.
Again. Notice the ratio.
It just happens to resemble the 10,000 hour rule in the book Outliers, an insightful treatise on success by Malcolm Gladwell. In it, the author explains that our natural ability requires a huge investment of our time before we are able to see the fruits of our labour. It takes a lot of worker bees to create the honey. Hours and hours of little tasks finally lead to the seemingly impossible creation of the sweet nectar.
The problem with most of us is that we quit, retreat, or never really begin. We perpetually live between our big ideas and disillusionment. This state of disillusionment can be overcome or at list mitigated if we would jest forget ourselves and get to work. Not every flower has what a bee needs, but it labours slowly to the next one, and the one after that.
Success and personal fulfillment hides in our ability to become a like a hive. We need to become a Queen and lead with purpose. We need to become a drone and bring our ideas to a rich and fruitful climax. What remains is hard work. Hours and hours of work.
I think It’s about time we beecome somebody.
