I am born as a tiny snake, and I cannot build. This is perhaps the most traumatic time of my life, for each second is a second the world is not being shaped, molded, and crafted. I am thankful this time is short, as I soon reach a more agreeable form. Though even still, as my carapace crackles at the placement of a wall, and the sticky resin gloops upon the floor, I know my true potential has not yet been reached.
And finally, it happens. After far too long, my body discards it’s previous, inadequate form, and I am born anew. I feel finalized, magnificent, that no form, not a ravager, not a boiler, nay, not even an abomination is superior in shape, size, bulbousness. Immediately I begin placing resin after resin, I must not waste another second. My regeneration unbeaten, not even by the queen herself. A wall goes here. A door over there. Sticky resin all over. There could not be a greater raison d’etre, no higher calling. No, this is much more then some calling from beyond. For I build not for the queen, or for the hive, I build because that is my purpose. I build because I must.
Some sisters tell me to build here, and build that, and I usually oblige them. It truly does not matter, so long as they do not obstruct. Even after we are victorious, I build. I build rooms, I build highways, I build until there is nothing to build anymore (what a harrowing thought). The sisters sometimes even ask me, “Hivelord, why do you build? We have already won. Your buildings no longer serve a purpose.” Silly sisters. I don’t build for victory, or gain, or admiration, I build because I must.
Even as the hives foes destroy what I build, I do not falter, I do not waver. Because although I must build, it means not that I preserve. For as the Xuddha once said, “All xonditioned things xre impermanent, when one xees this with xisdom, one turns away from xuffering.” And so as they bring their breaching shotguns, their explosives and their rockets, and as my sisters whine, whinny and wallow, I waste not. There are walls to be built. I care not for what was once built, nor how my buildings shape the future. Concerns of that nature do not serve my goals, it is folly and only provides distraction. While my sisters toil away on the past and the future, my only concern is what is right in front of me. An unoccupied space, and it must be filled. There are no further answers needed, no greater strategy or freedom, no further consideration, purpose, reasoning, philosophy, meaning! It is quite simple, you see.
I Build Because I Must.