Queen, Be.

I've just read that queen bees are made, not born. "Female worker bees and the queen bee have the same genes... and any female larva has the potential to be a queen.  What makes the queen different is her diet."

When a colony is ready for a new queen, they feed a selection of female larvae an exclusive diet of royal jelly until she's ready to pupate, in contrast to worker larvae which are only fed royal jelly for a couple of days before switching to the standard diet of honey and pollen. This rich diet allows the queen's reproductive system to develop fully, marking her as the future of the colony.

We see something similar in humans - those of us "fed" with care, attention and education have a much easier path to success, which goes some way to explaining how the rich and powerful in society end up in their exalted positions. It's a lot less difficult to succeed when you already have everything you need to allow you to focus on your goals, rather than having to struggle by with the basics. 

It initially made me quite indignant to realise that, just like bees, some people are pre-selected for success and, while they still face challenges (only 1 from a selection of 10 to 20 larvae will survive the killing spree that ensues when a new queen hatches and is driven to see off other contenders for her crown), they have a much better chance of becoming powerful than any of those bred to become and remain worker bees for their entire lives. However, just being in that elite group in the first place ensures that one of the privileged few will end up as the new queen, while thousands upon thousands exist to serve her. 

Interestingly, this position of privilege does not guarantee the queen a peaceful death. In fact, unless the colony becomes too large and is forced to separate, she is fated to eventually be killed by the next queen once her usefulness to the colony has run out. 

After pondering on it for a bit, I started thinking about other ways humans can "feed our queens." Yes, providing the optimum in nutrition and love and education is incredibly important, but I know I've been guilty of treating myself like a worker bee - put on the earth to provide for others, existing to ensure that someone else's needs are met, and being harsh with myself when I fail. What if we're putting that energy into meeting and exceeding our own needs and those of the queens coming up behind us, telling ourselves and our children that we are worthy of the best? Maybe then we'd all be queens, and maybe none of us would need to fight to maintain our status as new royalty is created in our image.