Shake Seeds & Eat

The chirping of the birds on a tree overlooking my yard finally got to me today. So I added some more birdseed to the bird feeder. This is a new bird feeder and I really had not observed how they used it. Watching from a distance I noticed some of the birds would attack the feeder, grabbing what food they could get. Their action would shake the feeder and a group of birds would fly to the ground to pick up the fallen seeds. Then they would all head back to the tree only to repeat the sequence in a minute or two. It seems the birds consider the birdseed communal property and work together to shake and eat the seeds. The local squirrel, not to be found today, considers the feeder his private property and does not like sharing with the birds. The squirrel probably has more than enough food stored away in a nest.

This conflict between communal ownership and private ownership plays out not only in the world of nature but in the world of human beings. Access to sun, light, water, energy and even good health are privatized in the USA. The sense of communal ownership is very low. People are always asking what government can do for them individually rather than what government can do for the common good.

Personally I like the birds’ approach to life and try to shake things up a little bit so others can share in the abundance. In my opinion there are too many squirrels in life, storing away all the food they can get for themselves. If we had more persons in the world shaking so more can eat, we could eliminate hunger. There is enough for everyone to eat, but some of us, like squirrels, believe we deserve more than our share.

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