After a grueling day of classes, the most exciting thought in my mind involves finding a shady bench to relax on in Washington Square Park. Covered in suspicious grime, only half of this bench seems suited for sitting, but I take the seat anyway, favoring an escape from the stifling sun over a supposedly clean bench. Two minutes pass and I feel a slight tap on my foot. I look down and see a weathered down cane. As my eyes travel upwards, it is the wispy white hair cradling this woman’s earlobes that I notice first.
The hue of her hair is the only aspect of her appearance that reveals her age, for her face is void of wrinkles and her eyes still a warm blue. She taps on my foot once more with her cane, and from the large bag burdening her bird-like shoulders, produces a seemingly larger bag of capless acorns. Politely, she asks if I would stand up so she could access the small green bucket, so cleverly camouflaged behind the bench, and refill it with acorns.
Dumbfounded, I jump up and within the next ten minutes, learn that she is the mother of the squirrels of Washington Square Park. Passionately and indignantly, she explains to me the tragic behavior of the NYC Park Service. They deny food and water to the wildlife of the parks, even though it is the animals that bring the most tourism to the area. At 72, she walks the park every day, refilling the many green buckets she has hidden throughout the park that only she, the squirrels, and, now I guess, I know about. Almost immediately after the acorns are placed, four squirrels scurry towards us, out of nowhere, and begin nibbling on the acorns. She knows their names (Charlie, Louise, Dory, and Sebastian) and they know what time and where their mom brings them their nuts.
After a while, she wanders away, off to the next bucket. The squirrels stuff what they can into their cheeks and they too, wander off. I sit back down, with nowhere to wander, but left in thought about the mother of the squirrels. Her altruism only falls short of her kind heart and her humble story inspired and motivated me to do some good too. Not for my benefit but solely for others. They don't even have to be members of your own species.
