I believe in the power of Ants !




Most people think the ants are some kind of dumb insects that spend their whole life working, not even for themself, don't enjoy any moment of it, and always pop up on your sandwich just when you wonder why you had come to hate the summer. They don't have any personnality, they do what they were told to do without wondering, and they don't even bother about their own death. Yep, that's what most people think...
I think the ants are probably the most calm and efficient beings in the Univers, and I really try to be like them.

Why ? Because, if it's true that the ant spends her like working, just like everyone of us, the difference is that she ACCEPTS it. She knows that her work has to be done and she does it.
As a lesbian activist I have many different activities. All are tiring, all take me a lot of time I could spend for myself. But since I developped some kind of ant philosophy, I feel much more calm.

Let me explain. As a lesbian, I choose to devote a part of my time to the building of my community. It's almost a full-time job. It's sometimes tiring, sometimes depressing. But it has to be done. On week-ends I work at a lesbian bar, and a the monthly parties we organize, I'm part of the association that will organize the Lesbian and Gay Pride in my town... On weekdays I'm on IRC, trying to explain to the dayly hundreds of guys who think their dick is a key to every door that when lesbians create a girl-only space, they have to respect it, or comforting frightened young lesbians who feel isolated in a world that rejects them... I'm a full time lesbian activist.
And many times I was told "[I admire you because/I don't understand why] you spend so much energy and love for [machist dummies who will never understand what you say because they feel good oppressing women/lesbian sluts who will use you and never understand what sisterhood means]". The people who say that are probably right but hey... you don't build an anthill in one day... and sometimes rain destroys all you work...

That's always what I feel like answering, because we need to build this damn community, and all those machos/homophobic assholes/self-hating lesbians they are like rain so we have to be like ants, and keep on building, no matter what happens to us. And if we accept that we will have to work all our life, not just for ourself but for all our sisters, not with a selfish but universal mind, with the only reward of seeing our anthill growing slowly but surely, I think we will have won. We won't regret the energy we spend because it won't be lost, we won't have to fear our "activist death" (i.e. getting fed up of saying endlessly that being a lesbian is just a different way of loving, not a sin, and no I'm not a slut, and no I don't hate men... see my lesbians FAQ, and finally decide to live for ourself), because if we give up, if we die, another ant will replace us and go on.

And our world will change. (oh you can laugh if you want to !)

I'm an ant in the lesbian community, the homosexual community, the human community, and I really feel better knowing it (and I will always pop up on your sandwich just when you wonder why you had come to hate our homophobic/machist/unfair world as it is !). I believe in the power of ants !


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