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What Can We Learn From The Termites Community -By Edwin Alivionote

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Termite mounds near Derby Kimberley WA

 

What could we possibly learn from termites, those tiny insects known for their destruction of timber?
Termites are social insects in their tiny world exacting influential impact on the world of the humans, who are supposedly the giants and possess high intelligence. These tiny creatures build castles (ant hills) for themselves within splits of hours. They are organised and focused in their daily operations. Their day to day engagements are divided into functional roles and labour is engaged according to specifications in duty.

The termites build well structured anthills that are properly ventilated to allow the passage of air in and out with underground bunkers fortified with adequate security. The community of termites have trustworthy leaders who assign duties and plan the economy of the colony. The followers and workforce are faithful to commands and directives because they can rely on the leadership to secure and maximize their overall interest.

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The termite society mimics firstly what is expected of our diverse family units. The father and mother make up the leadership of the house, with the children as followers, looking unto them for support. The failure of the home front in meeting her responsibility has opened up more threats to society. The parents are expected to be united in purpose and make the children work with them daily to achieve a family goal. The father has a role to the rest members of the family, so is the mother and the children too are not left out. The failure to oblige these roles breaks down the wall of trust in the house-hold.
In the community of institutions and corporate firms, individuals converged at a point (the office) to work for a common goal, with each person directing attention to personal pursuit. The general believe is that, all man will work for himself but, God will work for all. The termites have no such thing as impossible in their world, this is the reason why they make wonders happen with their nesting daily. The pace of organizational development had been rather crawling because our team spiritedness has been highly verbalized than practical in implementation.

Looking at the lesson of the termites’ colony for the country at large, one could draw up several salient lessons for citizens and leaders. The first is their orderliness and unity in service. The unity of a country such as Nigeria has been tested in various aspects, but is still struggling to find order and purpose which has eluded us. Our leaders have lost focus hence, no national project is standing the strength of time.

Our politicians pride themselves in self glory over menial achievements; the spirit of working for the common good of all has long being replaced by the spirit of selfishness. For the followers, the need to be diligent (like the termites workers) has become practically impossible, since the system has created a meagre space to abhor this virtue. The need to plan for tomorrow is obvious in the colony of the termites who gather food for storage; they are industrious and futuristic in their daily affairs. The governance of Nigeria which revolves around the race to secure fortune for self at the moment has made us suffer more in the years ahead.

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For you as an individual, the family, corporate entity and the leadership of the country, the termites have much of intelligence to tap from, if you will wish to celebrate better days ahead.

 

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