Are we really just animals?

• Author: Puterbaugh, Dolores T.
• Position: PARTING THOUGHTS

TELEVISION is not a big focus in our home. The real viewing action comes from a large bay window that stretches from four inches above the floor to more than six feet tall. In front of it sits a small patio of stone pavers, a pottery dish on bricks for a bird bath, and a 12-inch the square on a low pedestal of bricks as a bird feeder. A holly tree frames one side.

The window is the big-screen television for our indoor cats, a place to sit quietly reading and reflecting for humans, a primary source of light and air. Many critters pass through the front yard; small Florida gray squirrels, the stone species as their northern cousins, but leaner and better equipped for the long summers; juvenile fruit rats, indistinguishable from gerbils; a black snake, with a white bib and large, round eyes; and a Noah's ark of birds: varieties of doves, blackbirds, cardinals, finches, sparrows, robins (in winter), and bluejays. The squirrels are not comfort able with the snake drawing too close, and the large, bossy European ring-neck doves are equally disliked by all. The rest of the species share the food and water without any fuss.

The squirrels sometimes throw a game of tag into the middle of lunch, but that is just kids being kids. Beyond all this peaceable kingdom, the blue jays have provided an education. it I have put out fresh water and a few handfuls of millet and black sunflower seeds, it often is a blue jay who arrives on the scene first. The jay does not eat; it hops from branch to branch in the holly tree, blasting a shrill cry in every direction. Clearly, it is letting its compatriots know that food is available. Until the others arrive, it does not eat. Often the caller is the last of the flock to eat. If no one comes, and the calls go unanswered, the blue jay does not eat. It flies away quietly.

At the risk of seeming to anthropomorphize the blue jays, this outcome always feels sad. Imagine trying to share happy news, and your friends do not return the calls or e-mails. Some of the pleasure is lost. Perhaps the bluejay does not want to eat alone due to issues of vulnerability or some other behavior that is hardwired into its tiny brain. That may be, but the parallels to humans are curious.

Toddlers naturally want to share their excitement with friends and family members. They are overjoyed with the balloon or the bug they have found. It is more fun when someone shares it. A two-year-old wants to show a new toy to a friend, not to show off and...