smoke and ants

For a second, I thought I ran across an enigma today, but it was a false alarm. I decided it was simply a dichotomy. Anyway, it goes like this:

Working construction has been pretty good for my health. It allows me to get up in the morning and be active. I interact with new people. It's a good learning experience, as these men are very different from myself. It's probably also good for them, because they've said they expect me to become "like them" (i.e. use bad language, talk about crude things) but in time, they'll learn that they're wrong since God has a much stronger grip on my life than they do. I've also slimmed down a bit and gained some mass. Overall, it's a very good thing.

Even though it's good for me, it's killing me, and here's why: everyone smokes. I probably end up taking in a cigarette and a half in second-hand smoke since I'm out there with them when they take smoke breaks.

I decided this isn't really an enigma since it's not very mysterious. It just has two seemingly mutually-exclusive ideas.

I've been thinking a lot about ants lately. On the job, aside from being called Pat, I'm called a "laborer." That means I have no special skills or formal training. You just give me an order and a tool and I toil away. With a purpose like that and a name like "laborer," one really does get to feeling like an ant. That leads me to think about times that ants are used in scripture.

Being the shortest guy on the job usually compounds my feeling like an ant. On the phone today, without me mentioning anything about height, my dad just tells me, "Short people either get strong or they die." I thought it was kinda funny that he knew the issue of height was on my mind. It's probably on his mind a lot, too, since he's not very tall himself.

My dad further validated his statement by explaining that short guys don't have the mechanical advantages that taller guys have. When a short guy picks up or reaches for something, he has to extend himself and exert more energy. I hadn't really considered this, but it's probably true. Anyway, I'm getting off the topic of ants.

On top of being short making me think of ants, when I eat lunch under a tree, ants usually end up swarming me and my lunchbox. This usually makes me think about flicking them into a creek where fish devour them. It's not very scriptural, but it's amusing.

It's almost 9 o'clock and I need to go to bed. Goodnight folks.