To get by giving

Born and bred in New York, I still rely on the NY Times for all news, serious and otherwise. In the 20+ years I have had to get used to reading the National edition, I still have to remind myself that the Metropolitan Diary section comes on Mondays.

The Metropolitan Diary includes heart-warming tales of bus rides, cute kids and silly, local news from New Yorkers (and often from visitors). This week included the following - which reminded me that we only get when we give:

"Dear Diary:
I noticed a homeless woman in her mid-40s looking at the fruit and vegetables at a corner stand in the mid-50s in Manhattan. Finally, I walked over to her and asked if she would like to choose something from the assortment.
She answered: “Oh, yes. I would love a bunch of those green grapes.”
“Great,” I responded. The fruit vendor picked out a bunch of green grapes, put them in the bag and handed them to her. She looked in the bag and then looked at me.
“You know,” she said, “this is a lot of grapes. Won’t you share them with me?”
There I stood in the middle of Manhattan eating the best grapes ever with this delightful, generous woman.
June Aaronson"