For Bill:

When I was little, I used to watch ants. You know - those little black ones that would collect on the lollipop you left out on the counter the night before? Those ones. As I sit here tonight, 20, I think about one of those small ants and compare it to my life. I'm an ant. A small creature that sometimes must carry light or heavy loads. I'm an ant.
I picture myself, as an ant, carrying a large, green leaf. As I carry this leaf many, many miles (or inches as we humans like to call them) I face rough winds, random splashes of water, and tiny pebbles just to get to my destination in a timely manor without destroying my perfect, green leaf. When I get to my hill, or place of residence, I find my leaf doesn't fit in the hole. It's simply too big to fit. I put my leaf down, sit, and while I'm sitting I think about my mistake of thinking that I could fit such a large leaf into a hole such as the one above me. "What was I thinking," I ask myself. I cannot answer such a simple question, so I become more specific. "Why did I think I could fit this leaf into that hole?" "How will I ever get this to other ants that need it the most?"
"Oh, God!" I cry out. "Will my leaf forever be sitting on the ground with me until one day it shall rot?"
Quickly, I have found myself mistaken. For I have found another ant, or she has found me. We together begin to tear this leaf apart, carrying one piece at a time into this tiny hole.
I love this ant.