Posted to the FAM message board:
“Humming birds have finally arrived!
(7/25/2026, Wilmore, KY)
Wonder of wonders:
I replaced the nectar in the HB feeder earlier this week.”
Dad
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“Those lazy hummingbirds need to get off the welfare dole
NOW
and forage for their own nectar!
The last thing we need is a bunch of hummingbirds
leaching off the taxpayers!!”
Son
It was a “Tongue-in-Cheek” response that had me laughing out loud: Plenty of political overtones and undertones, not to mention more than enough social / cultural perceptions to be reconciled!
Grievances abound:
Billionaires can’t fathom why the “lazy bums” at the bottom of the economic ladder don’t “get their act together” – like THEY did, of course – to climb the ladder like THEY did. [… standing on some very large shoulders, for sure!]
“Some people are born on third base
and go through life thinking they hit a triple.”
Barry Switzer (NFL coach)
And folks at the bottom – more than a few of whom are saddled with social / cultural barriers, including rampant discrimination – see opportunism, exploitation and Machiavellianism…. at work above them, leaving them forever behind.
“More than a few of those folks were never introduced to baseball …
Or had their own bed to sleep in at night …
Or knew where their next meal was coming from … “
Reality Check Mate
Folks in the middle, trying get everything to work, simply can’t make all the connections.
Try to hold a hummingbird accountable for foraging on its own when there’s plenty of “nectar” to be gleaned, and try to hold a trash collector accountable for moving up the ladder when the rungs of the ladder are either missing or blocked … or, more common, not visible.
The missing pieces are EDUCATION and CULTURAL CULTIVATION.
Of course, just like the opportunists at the top, anyone who can glean “free and easy” trappings out of the welfare system at the bottom sees no need for “busting their butts”.
How are they EVER going to wake up to the importance of PERSONAL ACCOUNTABILITY for GETTING OFF THE DOLE when it seems so unnecessary? [ … so shortsightedly unnecessary!]
Fortunately, for hummingbirds, “nectar” is an essentially inexhaustible resource … as long as you’re able and willing to flap your wings 15-80 times a second, relocate thousands of miles to the south in the winter, and retrace your path in the Spring as foliage returns to blossoming.
“… a hummingbird can travel as much as 23 miles in one day. However, during migration as they cross the Gulf [between the U.S. and Mexico] they may cover up to 500 miles at a time. Their average speed in direct flight is in the range of 20-30mph.” https://www.hummingbirdcentral.com/hummingbird-migration-spring-2026-map.htm
Unfortunately, for humans, our “nectar” [money!] doesn’t grow on trees [or behind a McDonald’s cash register] and doesn’t systematically renew with the seasons but tends to “rot on the vine” if not properly tended … like planting [getting an education / gaining knowledge], cultivating (watering weeding, fertilizing … skills building … doing the “grunt work”), harvesting, processing, etc. [building a portfolio of outstanding accomplishments], — and INVESTING for future needs [being a SIGNIFICANT “DIFFERENCE MAKER”].
The importance of avoiding getting run over by a train is to see it coming. The more one understands about trains, train tracks and crossing signals, the better. The more one understands about living in a capitalistic society – like “busting one’s butt” with more than half an idea of where you’re going to move up and through the system – the better.
“Indoctrination” needs to start early in development and continue unabated – with remediation as necessary – for the duration … until hard-wired “self-efficacy” kicks in.
WORK ETHIC DEFINITION 1
“ … a belief in work as a moral good: a set of values centered on the importance of doing work and reflected especially in a desire or determination to work hard.” https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/work%20ethic
DEFINITION 2
Understanding both the intrinsic and extrinsic values of diligently applying oneself toward specific goals that will not only add capacity and assure future prospects but improve the world at large.
DEFINITION 3
Diligence in striving to achieve one’s full PERSONAL POTENTIAL.
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Rewards from all of the above will be legion, including: Increased capacitization, increased self-esteem, increased esteem from others, increased economic solvency, expansion of opportunities, and increased access to one’s personal choice of “nectar”. Quartermaster
