The pianist and I were sitting in the car the other day having lunch in Beacon Hill Park. It was cold outside so we ate in the car rather than on the park bench by the flower beds. Soon, the Mallards, man and wife, gaudy and plain, two striking looking seagulls and several funereal looking crows wandered around hoping for a free meal. The crows were the first to identify the eaters in the car. When the pianist had the fill of her sandwiches she tore off her crusts to feed the ducks who were at first oblivious, but now the closest having been attracted to the car by the crows. The ducks, despite their conjugality, began to vie with one another politely and just ramped up the waddle to eat their fill.
The seagulls rushed over, but the the safe distance in proximitry they allow to humans is further than the ducks do, so they were nearly out of range from the spoils. Now , the pianist likes ducks better than seagulls, even if the gulls are admittedly more beautiful, but she is compelled to insist on fairness, called sharing, , not rewarding ! The result had her straining to meet the gulls cries with her throwing arm. The gulls may be beautiful but they are stupid, so when food looms they sound off rather than shutting up and eating so when their colleagues inevitably arrived they had to fight them for the food tidbits. It's hard to call it justice when the benefactor has to strain to give you what you need and you summon your friends and then battle for it with them. The gulls scream , "See me, see me, see me !" At least that's how it sounds.
The pianist in the interest of fairness and accommodation took pity and hurled the crust as far as it would fly to them. I think this is concern for equitable distribution and a female characteristic arising from the matronly urge to meet the needs of the long and the short and the tall. I think justice would give the gulls zilch.
The cacaphony from the seagulls drew more and more agitation from the crows who arrived in force, but they have an even longer allowable safe distance from the attainable human food source. It was impossible for her to meet their need. They looked forlorn as the pianist tried to break bread with them. They just couldn't out muscle the gulls and couldn't cozy up to the humans like the ducks and the pianist couldn"t throw far enough to moving targets.
Crows are smarter than gulls and faster than ducks, but if they want justice they are going to have to work at it like everyone else, use their brains and take risks to finesse the big guys! Or else eat alone what you can get1 Justice doesn't come without a price ! For fairness you have to freeze the big guys !