Eating, sleeping and fearing others are common to humans as well as animals. However, man is endowed with a sense of righteousness (dharma). Birth as a human being (Manava Janma) is too precious to be frittered away. Human life should be purposeful, meaningful and useful.
In fact, in the Ramayana period animals and birds, too, were motivated by noble instincts. Was it not Jatayu, the eagle, which gave up his life in the noble bid to prevent Ravana from carrying Sita away? Again, it was Hanuman, Sugriva and the whole battalion of vanaras that stood by Rama in the bid to rescue Sita from the clutches of Ravana. It was because of this noble instinct that Hanuman could fly over the ocean, and on another occasion carry the big Sanjeevini mountain on his shoulders.
Even tiny squirrels did their might to help in the noble cause of Sri Rama--when the bridge to Lanka was built, they rolled on the sand and squirted it on to the bridge to fill up the gap between stones and make a smooth surface for the monkey army to tread on.
Why Make a Difference?
In a way even trees are much nobler than man. While the common man is concerned about his welfare alone, unmindful of what happens to others, the tree bears the brunt of the hot sun to provide cool shade for men and animals. It gives its flowers and fruits to man without expecting returns. In fact, it gives shade even to someone coming to chop it off. No wonder, the Sringeri Acharya exhorts people to give up selfishness and emulate the tree in helping others.
A noble person desires the well-being of others, whatever his difficulties, and gives off his utmost to that purpose.
But, is it not an arduous task to make a difference to the
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