The Only Thing We Have To Fear Is Fear Itself – A Little Birdy Told Me So

Happy Valley, Fl.

Pop. 54 (oops 53)


This spring, a bird built her nest inside our carport. Technically, the nest is set within a hanging light fixture. Whenever I take out the garbage, the bird reacts fiercely to the commotion. She leaps out of the nest, flaps her wings frantically against the top of the carport, and then flies into the nearest group of trees. This pattern is repeated each time I make too much noise around her nest. This led me to wonder about our protective patterns.

We crave safety by securing our homes with locks and alarms, paying attention to potential threats in our surroundings, learning when to fight or run, maintaining emergency supplies, and arming ourselves. I certainly have my can of yellow jacket spray at the ready to ward off those kamikaze-like insect warriors. We make judgments all of the time about possible threats to our well being. For example, we begrudgingly accept the salesmen who knock on our doors during the day. But, we become extremely nervous and are likely to call the police when we see somebody lurking around our house late at night. Our social contract regarding personal safety has two elements: First, protect us from the others, and, secondly, protect the others from us.

So, each time I take out the trash, I represent a threat to my non-paying tenant who engages in all out protection by flying madly about the carport. Rather than having each of us decide when to flutter about madly because we feel threatened, we agree –as a matter of our social contract - to utilize the police. It is only when we do not believe the police will be able to protect us that we might feel forced to take matters into our own hands. And when any of us decide to use a gun purchased to afford an extra level of security, we better have a darned good explanation for why we undertook to substitute our judgment for the judgment we hired the police to undertake. Otherwise, you just might be a victim of my judgment.