La Cigale et la Fourmi

You might be familiar with this fable, “The Cricket and the Ant” written 350 years ago by French poet Jean de la Fontaine. La Cigale (the Cricket) spent all summer singing while la Fourmi (the Ant) was collecting food for the winter. When winter arrived, la Cigale came knocking at la Fourmi's door asking for food and shelter. La Fourmi’s answer was “You sang, you say? How nice, my dear! Now go and dance your life away!”

Sadly, the fable stops here. I will not delve into politics and discuss why the government is tapping la Fourmi’s savings and sharing it with la Cigale, or that la Cigale deserves death because it did not plan well. Human nature tricks us into believing that the world we live in is static. Throughout history, we once believed Earth was fixed in space, and then we thought that the Universe was in a Steady State, but the Big Bang theory shattered that belief. So why do many businesses tend to believe that the current economic downturn is here to stay?

I just wish la Fontaine completed the fable by telling us how la Fourmi also spent winter using its savings to rejuvenate and planned strategies for next summer. Imagine if la Fourmi kept saving more food during winter thinking that summer will never come. Two things could have taken place: Either la Fourmi would have become malnourished, caught some disease and died, or by summer it would have been exhausted trying to manage its resources that it did not prepare and now other ants are already collecting the good stuff.