Individualism can be either the worst or the best of things, depending on whether it resembles a grain of sand or a blade of grass. The grain of sand has no attachments; it is free as the wind. But it is also at the mercy of the wind, blown about from place to place until it settles, a nameless particle lost in the mass. By contrast, each blade of grass is rooted in the earth, energized by the sun, and intertwined with the others that surround it. Bound to place and to each other, the blades of grass form a living community that can be likened to a people.