Birds of a Feather Flock Together
What we really mean when we say "us"
Birds of a feather flock together.
Some version of that phrase has been around since the B.C.’s. But the first time it’s known to show up in English was in 1545, when a man named William Turner wrote this:
“It is easy to know the cawse for as byrdes of on kynde and color flok and flye allwayes together / so the papistes will euer be to gether / that on may euer help another / not only with numbre as sterlynges do when they ar aferde of the hauk / but also to consult & take counsel together how theyr sect myght be best promoted manteyned & set forward.”
In modern English, that reads roughly:
“It is easy to know the cause, for as birds of one kind and color flock and fly always together, so the Papists will ever be together, that one may ever help another, not only with number (as starlings do when they are afraid of the hawk) but also to consult and take counsel together how their sect might be best promoted, maintained, and set forward.”
I won’t get into how sharp this rhetoric was at the time, or the feuds between the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant Reformers. But let’s just say Turner wasn’t calling anyone birds as a pet name.
The gist is pretty simple: people tend to cluster with their own kind…and look out for their own interests. These birds aren’t flocking to figure out the greater good. They’re out for what’s best for their sect.
Flocking together wasn’t just a 1545 thing. It’s universal.
And it’s not all bad. I’m old enough to have chanted “Ducks Fly Together!” in the theater when D2: The Mighty Ducks came out. There’s magic in sticking together. In community. It’s part of our DNA.
The problem comes when our sole focus becomes “promoting, maintaining, and setting forward” our own sect no matter the cost to everyone else.
There are two ways to flock. We can flock together just for the good of our own little groups. Or we can flock together for the good of the whole. It’s the same instinct. The only difference is who we count as our flock. Just the birds that look, act, think and believe like me? Or do I truly want what’s best for all of us?
The choice seems easy.
We’d like to think we always choose the greater good.
And maybe we convince ourselves that we do.
But the birds out front,
the ones we trust to lead us to brighter skies,
too often, they fly only for themselves.
And truth be told, so do the rest of us.
Birds of a feather, you know?