Little Old Ladies Fighting Back!

As an older woman, I am dismayed with the way we are depicted in major media, commercials, jokes and by some politicians.

No, I am not tripping and falling with every third step. And no, I am not on a barrage of medications and prescriptions. And no, my brain  hasn't turned to mush and my boobs don't hang to my shoes.

But nor am I running marathons, dancing all night in discos, walking cross country or rolling under the sheets in the senior version of Sex and the City.

In most ways, I am the same woman I was ten or twenty years ago -- though with a few more lines and some wear and tear on the body.

But perhaps the way I am most disenchanted about "age" is the way people like me have been portrayed by the New York City Parks Department and indirectly, the Mayor of NYC.

Yes, I am one of those awful, stupid people (mostly, older women) who enjoys feeding birds in a park.

According to the.leadership of NYC, we are responsible for attracting rats, harming wildlife and even causing birds to stop migrating -- none of which is true.

It is the garbage strewn around parks (especially during special events) that attracts rats. It is the chemicals and pesticides used in parks that harm wildlife (as well as habitat destruction). And migrating birds move according to the calendar and seasons, not according to some person tossing treats.

The fact is, most wildlife is slowly disappearing in NYC parks and that has zero to do with people feeding birds or squirrels. It has everything to do with parks deliberately pushing wildlife out in order to transform parks into major entertainment and sports venues.

The last swan was harassed out of Central Park in 2012.  Raccoons sickened and died in Central Park last year. And Canada geese have been killed and harassed from city parks for the last decade.

But blame the little old ladies feeding birds in parks for all of this mayhem!

Why not?

Little old ladies usually don't fight back.

But in this case, some of them are!

I have a friend, Liliana, who is 75-years-old, dealing with stage four cancer, chemotherapy every three weeks and has to use a walker. But that doesn't stop her from going to Central Park at least once a week to feed ducks and her two special (resident Canada) geese, "Man and Lady" who have lived at the Boat Lake for a number of years.

Liliana has grieved with these two geese when their eggs have been destroyed by "Geese Police." She has rejoiced with them the one time they outwitted park employees and successfully hatched and raised six babies. She has worried for them during tough winters and she laughs and boasts when her "Man" chases other geese from the lake.

But now, Liliana worries that she risks arrest if the proposed "Wildlife Feeding Ban" is passed as is now threatened by city leadership and the Parks Department.

 "How will I get to my chemotherapy treatments if I am in jail?" she jokes - - though there is uneasy concern behind the laugh.

Liliana would not do well at Rikers.

Still, Liliana is not taking any of this lying down. She is indeed getting up!  (Unlike the way commercials portray senior women on floors: "Help, I've fallen and I can't get up!" )

She wrote beautiful comment to the cruel proposal, she called 311 to protest and she's even written letters to newspapers!

And no, she is not bailing on her trips to see -- and feed her special Man and Lady.

As Liliana said to me recently, "What does my life mean if I don't have purpose!?"

 Purpose indeed.

And though I too am now in my seventh decade, I have no interest in retiring off to some "Senior Living" paradise, discussing aches, pains and pills or running marathons.

I'd rather go feed some ducks -- or geese!

(Picture: Liliana hand-feeding pigeons in Central Park several years ago.)