Once upon a time there was a very lonely, well-to-do, and ungenerous old woman (60).

And everyday she (60) would come to her favorite bench at her local park (central park) and feed her

only friends, the birds.

Until one day an another old woman who is homeless (80) comes to the same bench in the park and

sits next to her. The 80 year-old woman makes an effort to get to know the 60 year old, but is rejected

by her. The 80 year old woman tries to feed the birds, who are her friends, but the 60 year-old woman

feels threatened and tries to stop her.

Because the 60 year-old woman is very uncomfortable with losing her only connection to living things,

she fights back in the only way she knows, and is competitive and aggressive and the two women

proceed to furiously compete over the attention of the same birds.

Because they become loud and create a commotion, they both scare all the birds away and both

women lose the attention of the birds they love/covet.

Until finally the 60 year old woman realizes that she can try to reach out in a different way to befriend

the 80 year old so that they can both bring the birds back. She then makes an effort to be generous to

the 80 year-old woman and invite her to connect with her.

The 80 year old woman accepts her offer and ever since that day the two women focus on what they

have in common (including their connection with the birds etc) and start to build a friendship which makes

it possible for the birds to return and pay attention to both women.

Armature:

Generosity can open the door to friendship.

Description:

60 year-old = sophisticated, eccentric, lonely, intimidating, bird lover

80 year-old = lower class, scrappy, friendly, lonely, eccentric, bird lover