Bees

A number of years ago wanting to get out of the city and have some land to do as I we wished. We bought a piece of property in the country, a little under 12 acres of cleared agricultural land.  The house was well built and relatively new and most of all it met my wife’s criteria.  You see, it was not my wife’s idea to move to the country, she was very happy in the city, close to all the amenities and very important, people.  She is definitely a people person. 

I on the other hand am more of a liberal recluse, meaning I enjoy some company and I am very particular on my friends.  I don’t mind long stretches of solitude, but I do enjoy being with friends from time to time. 

So now we have this land with very few trees.  Being a city boy never realized the intricate procedures and cost of growing grain on a very small scale.  One spring day I noticed wild mustard growing, a field full of yellow flowers, and after investigating an unfamiliarised buzz, bees all around me collecting pollen and nectar.  It came to me BEE HIVES.

I was amazed at the work and life cycle of these small creatures, with one purpose in life, NO it is not making honey put making more bees, the cycle of life.   The hive temperament is controlled in large by the queen and as the saying goes the queen rules the hive.  They may be directed by genetics and pheromones (bee scent), progressing from one stage to another within the hive until they reach the phase of gatherer and fly to and from collecting pollen and nectar. 

We do not live like bees united in one hive, with one purpose.   We on the other hand live slightly different. We raise our children to think for themselves, giving them a general education leading them to a suitable personal path chosen by them. They will get a job and slowly acclimate themselves to the work environment which will compose most of their adult life.   Sooner or later the child will leave the hive (home) and continue on the path they have set out for themselves and start the cycle all over again, a new hive.  Much like a hive swarming (splitting) to a different area cause by over population.

We have various interest and ambitions, different goals and various ways to attain them.   We look forward to a time to slow down and enjoy the fruits of our labors and what life has to offer.   Others may wish to work till they are physically unable to. Unlike bees who, in essence work themselves to death, literally. We are not bees.  We are individuals.

There is one important value we can learn from bees, joining together for one purpose.  We as Canadians can accomplish great things if we learn to work together for one purpose.   We could do much more with group of like-minded people working for a single purpose.  But we have the propensity to do it alone, showing off our skills and resourcefulness. 

Great accomplishments are done by an aggregate of people with various skills and talent, working together for one purpose.  Every contributor has given his or her best in the particular skill set they have.  One may be great at designing but have no clue on manufacturing.  We can be a Jack of all trades, but very, very few have mastered them all.

It makes me think of a story I heard many years ago.  A boss notice one of his foreman telling and employee how he could do the job better.  Later to the same employee how his way was wasting time and effort, he could do it better.  The boss concerned about the employee feelings and morale, took him aside, told him he was doing a good job and asked what he would do if he was foreman  The employee taught for a little and then said, “I would give the foreman my old job because he claims he could do it better and my job as a foreman is to have employees that can do the work better than I can and if I can do it better than my employees, then I should be doing that  work” The boss hired the man on the spot as human resource manager.