How Overcoming Difficulties Improves The Quality Of Life - The Story Of The Ant

Nelson Mandela, after 27 years in prison, became the president of South Africa.

Life is beautiful, but the different philosophies and ideas of men that keep changing the world make things difficult for us sometimes. Many want to become rich or famous at all costs; therefore, they take the wrong turn in life and pay heavily for their crimes, while those on the right path of perseverance to success often give up because they find it too tough to handle.

I see people who give up in life very easily as weak and lazy. In the early nineties, I was among the few Africans in Rome, Italy. We only eat at the Caritas charity, but there is no place to sleep. Where to lay your head in Rome was one of the toughest issues of being an illegal immigrant in Italy.

Many of my African friends return to Africa. I refused to leave; I stayed behind, sleeping every night at the central train station in Rome. Today, here I am still in Europe and now with documents. 

Why, as a human being, do you have to give up when a small insect, an ant, never gives up in whatever it does?

Here is the story of the ant.

In reality, the intelligence of a man is above any animal or insect, but examining the effectiveness of certain insects, such as a bee and an ant, we can’t dispute the fact that the most intelligent insect can rightly be considered an ant, because it is one of the few hard-working social insects.

 

Ants gather in large groups and accept smaller colonies to be slaves. They are intelligent creatures to navigate their environment and the weather.  They go to war against each other and know how to protect and defend themselves by using tactics and strategies.

 

According to a study, the ants know how to heal themselves.  The ant, infected with the spores of the parasite fungus, transfers to the healthy ants a small number of spores, which is not enough for a full infection but strengthens their immune system.

 

The body temperature of ants changes in response to the atmospheric temperature. In winter, their body temperature falls so greatly that their movements inevitably grow sluggish. Therefore, they hibernate restlessly in relatively warm places, such as the soil or under the bark of trees.

 

The hard-working insect ant

Depending on the environmental conditions, there can be several queens in the anthill, polygamy, or monogamy. There may be several ants that act as the queen and often arrange fights among themselves, trying to hit each other with their antennae. 

 

Such fights do not cause significant damage to the females; however, the working ants watching them make their choice in favor of one of them, after which they kill the rest.  

 

Ants can communicate by explaining to each other the path to food; they can count and perform simple arithmetic operations. 

 

For example, when a scout ant finds food in a specially designed maze, they return and explain how to get to it to other ants.  If you remove the pheromone trace at this time, the relatives of the scout will still find food. 

 

In another experiment, a scout searches the labyrinth of many identical branches, and after communication, other insects immediately run to the indicated branch.  

 

Ants communicate using odors because their glands produce pheromones in different concentrations for different messages. 

 

If an ant stumbles upon its own pheromone trail, the insect will walk in a circle until it is completely exhausted; condemned to this fate, its brethren will follow its trail.  This phenomenon is called an ant-hill, the spiral of death, a carousel of death, or ant circles.

 

For the reason that ants communicate with smells, they cannot distinguish between a dead and a living ant.  They understand the difference only when the dead begin to decompose.

 

However, not all ants have a permanent residence.  There are roving ants.  They live in the tropics of Africa, as well as in Central and South America.  Sometimes African roving ants come together in huge colonies of up to twenty million, and usually, they move very fast. 

 

It is very interesting to observe how roving nomadic ants move.  They look like a living river flowing in a direction known only to them. When they meet a large pool, they stick to each other to form a bridge and cross over.

 

Such a column of nomads stretches on average up to one or two meters.  When staying for the night, the queen, together with the larvae, remains in the center, and the remaining ants, clinging to each other with their paws, form a large ball, approximately one meter in diameter.

If such a tiny insect as an ant can work so hard to survive both summer and winter, why would you call it quits if you encounter problems in your life? 

It is not how many times you fall in life but how many times you make efforts to stand on your feet. Never give up as a human being in whatever good thing you want to achieve in your life until the bones are rotten.

ONLINE DATING: THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY PART OF IT

Online dating

Life can be boring sometimes. Frustration, depression, loneliness, and anxiety are some of the problems that have taken their toll on many people today, forcing them to use ‘Dating Sites,’ hoping that’s the right place to find love and happiness they are looking for. 

The internet has enabled us to see the world through the window, facilitating business, creating easy communication, and making friends easily throughout the globe. But the question is: Is ‘Dating Sites’ actually the right place for someone to look for his or her dream partner? 

Frankly speaking, dating sites harbor all kinds of dangers that many ignore or don’t see because they are simply following their heart's desire.

I don’t see the distance between two people dating as one of the disadvantages of online dating if one person lives in Canada and the other lives in England, but the dangers of falling into the wrong hands, which have prematurely ended the lives of many, and added names of missing people to the missing people.

While on a ‘Dating Site,’ you aim to find a lover, but the man on the other side doesn’t want love; he wants to harm or kill you. How will you know? This is the reason many who answer to online dating mysteriously disappear without any trace. 

This makes ‘Dating Sites’ or ‘Blind Date’ more dangerous than imagined. Once in Amsterdam, I contacted a lady who wants a non-smoker. 

We made an appointment at the central train station, asking me to be at a very famous point that everyone knew. She was late. I watched my time and I realized it was over ten minutes. 

Then, after fifteen minutes, I saw a pretty woman smiling at me. She was gorgeous. Her tall, slim figure was the exact choice of a woman I was looking for.

I don’t see the distance between two people dating as one of the disadvantages of online dating if one person lives in Canada and the other lives in England, but the dangers of falling into the wrong hands, which have prematurely ended the lives of many, and added names of missing people to the missing people.

While on a ‘Dating Site,’ you aim to find a lover, but the man on the other side doesn’t want love; he wants to harm or kill you. How will you know? This is the reason many who answer online dating mysteriously disappear without any trace. This makes ‘Dating Sites’ or ‘Blind Date’ more dangerous than imagined.

Once in Amsterdam, I contacted a lady who wants a non-smoker. We made an appointment at the central train station, asking me to be at a very famous point that everyone knew. She was late. I watched my time, and I realized it was over ten minutes. 

Then, after fifteen minutes, I saw a pretty woman smiling at me. She was gorgeous. Her tall, slim figure was the exact choice of a woman I was looking for.

“Are you Joe?” She asked, and I nodded.”I have been here already, but spying on you to see if you are a handsome man. I really hate ugly and shabbily dressed men.” She said. “What a bad woman? 

Is that what men or women do to each other on a blind date?” I asked in my mind. Now I know the reason many dates end in disappointment. They came and probably saw the person unattractive and quietly sneaked away? 

Who will be happy when treated like that? In fact, the statement she made ruined my day. After eating and a walk through the city, I didn’t request a second date. That’s how we lost contact.

There is nothing wrong when doing online dating, but be extremely careful, because what you are looking for might be completely different from what the person you are communicating with wants. 

Some recommended steps can keep one far from loneliness and depression. Reading interesting books as a hobby can capture your imagination to avoid depression and loneliness.

If you love to stay at home, please cultivate the habit of taking a walk through the gardens, doing window shopping, and joining social clubs. Going to the gym to exercise once or twice a week not only keeps you fit but also psychologically healthy. 

Who knows, you will meet the right person in those places? You may have a hidden talent, but you don’t know. Find out what you are very good at, follow it, and start blogging to create your happiness.

GLOBAL COOPERATION FOR A BETTER AND SAFER INTERNET FOR CHILDREN

                         

A lineup of some of the speakers at the Child Safety online Conference


The fresh, amazing discovery of ICT facilities, including the internet and television, has brought comfort, happiness to our homes and facilitated the development in education, communication, and business sectors throughout the world.  


Unfortunately, the pollution of the internet has brought misery, mishaps, abuse, trafficking, and sexual predators lurking around the internet and putting the lives of children in danger.

To make the internet a safe place for children, Microsoft, Disney Club Penguin Company, The Walt Disney Company Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, under the platform of Forum Europe, co-organized a day conference on November 12, 2013, at the Renaissance Hotel in Brussels.

It was an event to discuss and address risks faced online by children in both Europe, developed and developing countries, with solutions and strategies to help children and young adults stay safe when on the internet.

Around the table for discussion were distinguished professionals who have experience in child issues. Among them was Mr. David Miles, Director of EMEA. Family Online Institute, Mr. Robert Madelin, Director General for DG Connect, European Commission, who gave the keynote presentation. 

Doreen Bodgan-Martin, Chief Strategic Planning and Membership Department, Sabine Verheyen,  Member European Parliament,  John Brown, Executive Board Member, eNACSO, and Ambassador Sylvia Poll, Deputy Permanent Representative (Mission of Costa Rica to the United Nations Office of Geneva), Sarah Taylor, Head of Creative Economy, and Bojana Lobe, Assistant Professor: University Ljubljana and EU Kids Online.

Children are actually never aware or understand the potential dangers on the internet until they become a victim. The excellent speakers each painstakingly addressed the participants on the hazards and the misuse of all emerging technology, which includes cyberbullying, masturbation, and abuse by online predators, sexual kissing, and exposure to inappropriate content, including self-harm, racism, suicide, hate, adult pornography, and child prostitution. 

In an attempt to fight against internet abuse to protect children, many governments, including Britain, have come out with preventive measures. For example, the UK’s biggest internet service providers have agreed to the filters scheme, meaning it should cover 95% of homes. 

Other measures announced by the prime minister included new laws in regard to videos streamed online in the UK will be subject to the same restrictions as those sold in shops.

The debate was tense as journalists and other media representatives asked challenging questions. Do parents actually know what the children are busy with on the internet? Providing tools and safeguards to protect children online is part of the conference solutions. 

Here, it is essential for both children and parents to have a very good understanding of the potential risks available on the internet for children and to carefully control what the children are doing on the internet.

If children aren’t aware of the risks on the internet and parents are, then what schemes, resources, and other tools are available to help educate kids from an early age on the risks they may encounter when online? How can these risks be spotted and what action to be taken?  

Manuela Matra, Project Officer, inclusion, skills, youth, European Commission, Lucy Woodward, Interactive, Live Services Director, The Walt Disney Company, Jacqueline Beauchere, Chief Online Safety Officer, Microsoft, and Tommaso Bertollotti of the University of Pavia immensely contributed to these topics. 

Even though internet dangers are difficult to detect since they are uncensored, progress has been made in tracking down the internet-violating criminals and pedophiles to face justice and imprisonment.  

Some of the measures include Software paired with a child’s social network account; monitoring activities on whatever platform the network is accessed, and setting up institutions that deal with such issues.

The conference came to an end with Mr. Fred Langford, Director of Global Operation, IWF, Jean-Charles Schweitzer, Senior Specialist, Child Sexual Exploitation Team, European Cyber Crime Center, Erik Barnett, Attaché to the European Union for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Uwe Manuel Rasmussen, Legal Counsel, Microsoft, on issues dealing with a global strategy to combat child abuse material and inappropriate content issues. 

Silence fell in the conference hall when one of the speakers narrated a thrilling story involving child abuse and the way the investigation was successful in bringing the culprits to justice.

What did participants learn from this significant conference? On the issue of Child Safety's importance, I quote “It’s not just about protection through the action of others by the way; it’s also about empowering kids to protect themselves. Children are fascinated by the internet. 

I am convinced we can create a better internet, one we don’t have to choose between being educational, safe, or fun. We can have all three of these aspects if we accept the idea that protecting children is a shared responsibility. 

Children, parents, teachers, technology companies, and child welfare organizations all have a role to play. I see my role as bringing people together to enhance the quality of our actions.” – Neelie Kroes, European Commissioner for the Digital Agenda.