There was an ant in days gone by
Whose nature was to try and try
To get somewhere, to get there first.
Ambition was his constant thirst.
And so it was he would set out
Upon a pioneering route.
He always went in a straight line.
(He'd heard this would save lots of time.)
On he'd march, and on and on,
As hard rains fell and bright sun shone,
Carving a new path straight ahead
Where other ants dared not to tread.
Relentlessly he kept on moving,
Determined that he would be proving
This way was the way that's right
And soon the goal would be in sight.
But then the strangest thing occurred,
As with fatigue his vision blurred,
It seemed he had come back again
To where the journey had began.
For though perfect straight lines he'd taken,
His reason was a tad mistaken.
One thing he didn't get was that
The world he traversed wasn't flat.
It was, in fact, a kind of sphere,
And if anyone set out from here,
And on a straight line journey parted,
They'd end up right back where they started.
But still Ant didn't comprehend.
After waiting for his eyes to mend,
Dying to get to somewhere somewhen,
He took a straight line once again.
"The Master leads by emptying people's minds and filling their cores, by weakening their ambition and toughening their resolve. He helps people lose everything they know, everything they desire, and creates confusion in those who think that they know." Lao Tzu
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