Bright orange and black monarch butterflies have just emerged from gold-spotted, lime-green chrysalises that are my favorite living jewels. The adults are clearly labeled poisonous glycoside containers, because their caterpillars ate antelope-horn milkweed. They're a real contrast to the tattered, faded individuals of last March, newly returned from wintering in Mexico. I'm inspired to see fresh vigorous monarchs heading northward to find more milkweeds and begin the annual breeding relay that will take three or four generations of travelers into Canada and back to Mexico by November.

Monarchs are Texas' state butterfly and should be North America's symbol of internationalism, since their migration signifies the natural unity of our continent. They are teachers of a lifestyle befitting varied cultures -- of the mind-opening messages of travel and temporary residence in places away from home. As Mark Twain once said, "travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness." Monarchs are easily raised from eggs or caterpillars in small terraria. Nancy does it every year, and frees the adults as seasonal reminders that fenced political borders are the unnatural history of ancient human tribalism.