I thought about our own species. Humans are social animals. Like the birds that congregate in flocks, or other animals grouped in herds or packs, we have an inherent need for companionship. Yet we are also quiet, contemplative and solitary. For example, as much as I enjoy social events, participation in civic activities or rallying behind my favorite cause, I also love to curl up with a favorite book or sip my morning coffee in quiet aloneness with my morning newspapers.
Humans are both solitary and social.
Our private selves need to be free, like the bluebirds, to make private choices and take individual risks that lead to rewards and opportunities. Our communal essence must attend to matters of public policy that involve others. An ideal sense of community is one in which private, personal, individual pursuits are left to private, personal, individual discretion while those affairs that involve the way we treat others are handled as matters of public or community policy. My Bluebirds Today . Returning to the present from my rememberances of teen-aged years, I looked again at my new neighbors flitting around the bushes.