Fire Ants
Fire Ants
[Cueball is talking to Hairbun, an advisor, who is sitting behind a desk.] Cueball: I'm having second thoughts about grad school and could use some advice.
[Same setting as before. The animated advisor talks while gesticulating with her hands.] Advisor: Consider the fire ant. Advisor: When there's a flood, fire ants survive by joining together into giant floating rafts.
[Cueball is just standing there in the next beat-panel.]
[Back to the first setting but in a larger frame.] Cueball: Wait, what lesson am I supposed to take from that? Advisor: Ants are so cool! Cueball: ...You're not big on metaphors, are you. Advisor: I am big on ants.

Cueball , a university student, is meeting with Hairbun (likely his mother or somebody qualified to give college advice) asking her advice concerning his second thoughts about grad school . Her response begins with a popular reference from the Bible concerning ants ; however, she specifically narrows in on the sub-family of fire ants .
The book of Proverbs is a self-proclaimed book on receiving wisdom and instruction to be made wise. Thus, her response appears to begin as an instruction to him in response to his question. The proverb in particular she appears to begin quoting instructs the lazy person to "Go to the ant, thou sluggard! Consider her ways..." as she prepares for the desolation of winter by providing during the bounty of summer despite not having to be told so. The assumption by the reader would be that she is going to compare Cueball to a lazy person and instruct him to prepare for the later years (winter of life) by studying now while he is young (summer of life).
However, after the initial phrase she instead discusses a cool fact about fire ants . (Specifically the ability of fire ants to join together to form floating rafts in case of flooding). Continuing in the vein of the joke, that Hairbun was going to use a metaphor as part of her instruction, Cueball asks her what lesson he is supposed to take away from that fact. To which she replies with her fascination for ants ( Ants are so cool! ). Correctly, Cueball states that she is not big on metaphors , as there were none hidden in her first statement. She continues to tell him what she is big on: Ants .
This last exchange may imply that the expected metaphor would have had as little effect on Cueball's choice to continue grad school as an excited rant about fire ants (since he was just waiting for a metaphor anyway). Or perhaps it expresses that Hairbun finds more instruction in the study of the natural world than in ancient writings. In either case, it is left unanswered as to whether her argument was enough to answer Cueball's dilemma.
Before reading the title text the reader may have assumed that Cueball went to meet with a University adviser. But the title text makes it clear that he was actually in the entomology department (making her an entomologist - i.e. someone who studies insects). It is reasonable to assume that his grad studies are thus in entomology and he is meeting a professor that might act as a career mentor. Thus, her discourse on fire ants may have been to persuade Cueball that his grad studies in entomology were well worth continuing because of the exciting nature of the field of study. This would be achieving the intent of the Proverb she appeared to quote (convincing Cueball to continue life preparations by finishing grad school) although she discarded its wording.
In almost an immediate and seemingly bizarre contradiction, she chalks up her strange rambling on fire ants as just a formula that all entomology personnel use when asked any question. They use a two-step formula to answer any questions. It won't help you much because all you will learn is that ants are cool and then they have forgotten anything else you asked them while they continued to think of ants. This would imply that the answer Cueball received had literally nothing to do with his question or situation he was in and any similarity to being a meaningful answer or even a proverb of instruction was purely coincidental and unintended.
Another popular example where the phrase consider the from the Bible has been spoofed can be found in Monty Python's Life of Brian Consider the lilies sketch. However, this refers to a passage in Matthew instead of Proverbs .
It seems likely that Randall is fascinated by ants (he is fascinated by a lot of cool stuff…)
Cueball: What's up? Ant queen: The usual. Poopin' out ants. Cueball: Eww.
[Cueball is talking to Hairbun, an advisor, who is sitting behind a desk.] Cueball: I'm having second thoughts about grad school and could use some advice.
[Same setting as before. The animated advisor talks while gesticulating with her hands.] Advisor: Consider the fire ant. Advisor: When there's a flood, fire ants survive by joining together into giant floating rafts.
[Cueball is just standing there in the next beat-panel.]
[Back to the first setting but in a larger frame.] Cueball: Wait, what lesson am I supposed to take from that? Advisor: Ants are so cool! Cueball: ...You're not big on metaphors, are you. Advisor: I am big on ants.
