Ants

They keep coming back every year. You would think by now I'd be ready for them. I'm taking about ants, of course, those tiny indoor ants that show up when the weather gets warmer. I typically go through several stages of denial, then totally lose my mind and put out ant baits everywhere.

After a while that usually works. Then I'm stuck cleaning up the oozing gunk from the bait trays. Time passes. I forget all about it.

Then it happens all over again.

Perhaps there are people, somewhere, who have a date marked on their calendars for putting out the ant baits before a single ant is spotted. That would be smart. The ants have their own internal clocks that set them to run their appointed rounds. I guess you have to get up earlier in the morning to outwit them.

Now, in Columbia--you knew that was coming, right?--despite the overwhelming approval for things like Merriweather Park in Symphony Woods amongst ordinary residents, there are diligent detractors who keep getting up every morning and following the predetermined path to attempt to undermine the Inner Arbor Trust and interfere with the progress of Columbia's Downtown Plan.

These folks also follow a Spring cycle to get out the votes for our antiquated system of Village elections. They are extremely good at following the same old trails to find like-minded people and get them really riled up about all the "terrible things" happening in Columbia. The rest of us are just out there living real life: working, parenting, playing, volunteering, trying to hold it all together.

And before you know it, it's Spring again and--ants!

Despite the efforts of quite a few dedicated and forward-thinking people who are trying to open up the process to more Columbians, the election game is still being won by the ants. It's their game, their rules.

Which brings me to the CA Board, and the election of Dick Bolton as a delegate to the Inner Arbor Board. Dick Bolton, newly elected to the CA Board from Dorsey's Search, has had plenty to say on the Inner Arbor plan--in the negative. It looks very much as though Mr. Bolton ran for CA Board to be against things, and now he has a front row seat.

And now, we wait. Wait to see what happens next.

Or do we? Eleanor Roosevelt said,

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.

But, does it really? Or does it belong to the ants?