In North with the Spring, his landmark 1951 study of this
greenest and most welcome of seasons, naturalist Edwin Way Teale devotes a
chapter to �May at Monticello.� In this book, the first of four that follow
the progression of the seasons across America, Teale describes an incident
as he emerges from Mr. Jefferson�s residence. He observes that �all the
small birds feeding in the open dashed pell-mell into the bushes.� He then
notices a Cooper�s hawk in the sky above and that, instead of remaining
silent, the small birds enter into �a confused babble of bird voices.�
Teale notes the seemingly illogical, indeed reckless,
nature of the birds� reaction to a threat. Why get louder, rather than
quieter? But then he offers the answer: �By flocking together in the air,
small birds are able to divide the attention of the hawk, to distract it by
many shapes in motion. As long as they keep together, and the hawk is unable
to cut one individual from the flying mass, all escape.�
He continues. �The confusion chorus appears to be a kind
of flocking by sound. The calls, coming from all sides at the same time,
apparently disconcert the bird of prey. At any rate, the Cooper�s hawk swept
on without pausing, reached the edge of the mountainside, and slid down out
of sight. The twittering chorus ceased ... Now that the danger was past,
there remained no visible remnant of haunting fear. Monticello in May was
once more a place of sunshine and of peace.�
Rural folks in the mid-1930s handled a crisis in much the
same way as Mr. Jefferson�s chipping sparrows and English sparrows.
In the first few decades of the 20th century, the marvels
of electricity were transforming cities, midwifing the birth of suburbs, and
creating for metro-area residents what would ultimately become the highest
standard of living in history. In the 1930s, though, rural areas were still
in the dark, literally. Time-saving, labor-saving, money-saving devices were
largely dependent on something that 90 percent of rural people didn�t have:
electricity.
But by joining together, they were
able to create their own utility � a cooperative � to provide themselves
with power, at cost. This effort that began in the mid-�30s was repeated
over and over in communities across Virginia and across the nation, to the
point where there are now more than 900 local cooperatives in 47 states.
And this member-owned cooperative model still works today,
over 75 years later, even as Virginia�s rural areas shrink and her suburbs
grow. That�s because the focus has always been on local people providing
other local people with responsive service. And if there�s money left over
at the end of the year, it�s assigned as patronage capital to the members,
and later returned to them.
Member ownership also means member control, which is
evident in the cooperative annual meetings coming up over the next four
months. We hope you�ll make plans to attend your cooperative�s annual
gathering of members, to elect directors and carry out the business of your
business. A cooperative�s policies are set by a board of directors
consisting of members, elected by their fellow members, working for the
benefit of the members.
So in a cooperative, your vote counts. Your voice is
heard. Our only purpose is to provide you with the best possible electric
service at the lowest possible cost. It�s why our members began flocking
together in the 1930s. And it�s why the flock stays together in the very
different world of the 21st century.
