Unrelated Individuals Forming a Group
Waiting to Cross

I.

When people are alone, they often behave as if they were not; and when in
 company, they often behave as if they were alone.

Although it must be taken for granted that certain individuals behave differently
 when alone than when with others,

The conclusion seems inevitable that the human being as a social animal behaves
 as if it were almost always in a social situation.

At least for the scientific observer this seems a safe assumption to make; at
 most and more often than not,

It will minimize those errors that were made when the human being was assumed
 to be solitary,

A point of destination as well as a point of origin.

II.

It is no coincidence that you cross your fingers when you say "ready" in sign
 language.

III.

"I went for the wood last time," you say. And I look up from the black pot
 on the stove and, still smiling, say, "You went all the way to Paris. "


Melanie Bogue