Bill Perkins, in his book Die with Zero, has a different take on the ant and the grasshopper.
In the original tale, the ant spends all summer storing food for winter while the grasshopper plays. When winter comes, the grasshopper has to crawl back to the ant, who takes him in. The lesson is usually about the importance of frugality and foresight.
Perkins pushes back on that. We overemphasize saving and forget that the entire point of saving is to eventually enjoy what you saved. The ant had a point. But so did the grasshopper.
The answer isn’t either extreme. It’s finding the middle, where you save enough and still spend it on being alive while you’re alive.
A Learning a Day 