Wonder if human emotions are considered abnormally high compared to other species.
Like it's been touched on, the possibility that we're more primal and animalistic than other aliens by their standards. Our evolution is pretty skewed and we've held ourselves back developmentally multiple times in history, so it wouldn't be too surprising.
But I wonder if all the animal in us is something that makes us better people.
The other species might not be pack creatures, or as sociable, but the expectation of evolution is to bypass your primitive origins. So they didn't expect humans to be so.. wild.
But we didn't notice it in ourselves. The messes we make. The tripping and slipping. The noises of joy or confusion or upset in the backs of our throats. The innate instinct to respond to the cries of anyone's young, including other species. The gross habits. The collapsing in the grass and dirt when cooped up inside for so long. Wrinkles and cellulite and scars on healthy aging skin. Locking eyes on a prey animal, even with no intent to hunt. Sneezing. Farting. Napping around your pack when others are awake because they trust you to watch out for them while vulnerable. Getting sleepier in the winter because hibernation!
And the emotions. Oh, so many feelings. We might be exceptionally expressive compared to other intergalactic races. Our feelings just form so easily! And yet, for creatures that might have taut scales or small eyes or casing around their faces, they actually find it's harder to read a human's face. Because we're so used to being expressive, we honed the skills to keep what we're feeling from our face if we want to. If you see a human looking obviously upset, that's because they want you to know they're upset. Their faces scrunch in utter glee, their lips curl and teeth bare in simmering rage, they look at you with soft and sleepy eyes if they trust you- and wide and alert eyes if they don't. And they love so brightly, they can't even hide it.
And we bring this behavior to the stars. They see the accidental spilling of coffee and the hurling into someone to hug them and the decorated cabin because the humans need to nest or they'll get sad! And they ask, "Why do you do that?"
And the humans don't respond initially. Because they don't know how to explain Earth. How the beauty of being a social animal is also the most destructive part of us. That wonderful little mammalian brain is also scared of risks, and of uncertainties. It finds comfort and safety in simplicity, in staying in their little box and just eating and sleeping for eternity. But simplicity doesn't exist when you're a sapient creature with incredible intelligence. So there's this need for sameness and easiness intermingled with the need for community, that created this sad belief that you needed to shut out your individual animal nature if you want to keep a pack of your own.
But even for those souls, who resent in making mistakes and being gross and taking up space- the animal is still there. It rises, clawing it's way out when they feel their safety box is coming down and the people around them are a danger. It hisses, bites, filled with insults and rejection because it doesn't know if these box-destroyers are friends or threats.
The aliens listen to the humans speak. And there again, there are those big eyes and malleable faces that are so easy to understand. One has the stars in their eyes, with wonder and wisdom and intelligence of a thousand years. And another has fire in their eyes, of anger and passion and a fight that lasted their whole life. And another has the green of their planet in them, of a love for life that is reflected in generations of humans before them. And when you look closer, you recognize all these humans look winded, tired, but at peace. Because they all fought to claim their right to their nature. They all stood up and said to their people "I love you all, even if you don't love me. And I am here for you, even if you aren't here for me. But I am not living for you. I am living for me." And they ache for their wonderful planet-sized pack to live for themselves and be happy too.
So the humans look at their alien friends, and they say, "I'm alive, aren't I?