I am a
frequent traveler of public transport in Bengaluru. The world is compassionate
when it comes to senior citizen and elders. So we have separate seats reserved
for them in all the public transportation system. While we agree with the
difficulties they face due to age, I have observed this trend of elders rudely
commanding youngsters to leave the occupied seats. Respect is earned by
personality and not by age. Unfortunately, our elders think otherwise and
consider themselves to be superior towards anyone who sits there.
Today’s
youngsters are not the uneducated brats who would not offer the seat if
requested. The basic sense of compassion is lost when we behave rudely with
anyone younger to us. A small kid is made to adjust to the corner of a seat
because we think the kid doesn’t deserve to occupy a full seat. As a child, I
was always taken for granted and was one of them to be pushed away into those
corners. The difficulty a child experiences owing to the crawled spaces are
somehow easily ignored by the selfish elders around. Isn’t the child a human?
Does he not deserve some respect? Just because he happens to be small, do we
stand still while he painfully experiences the sharp edges of the bus poke him
throughout the journey?
Although
the general crowd has the same attitude 90% of the times, I have experienced
the flip side of the coin too. On a rainy day, the seats in the insides of the
public buses of Bengaluru are often soaking wet. I saw an old lady, sitting
right in the middle of a two-seater once. I politely asked her to move for
which she replied apologetically that the seat on the other end is wet. I
understood the situation and stood quietly. While she felt bad and responsible,
she insisted me to sit in the corner half seat and queried me of my journey.
She proved that being polite goes a long way. Many times I have seen elders
scolding youngsters of being lost in phones in public places. I ask, what gives
you any rights to even lift a finger at them. Their sole explanation for their
scoldings would be that they considered the victims to be their kids. Unless
they are your own and you seem to have some kind of authority on them, we
should treat every person, regardless of their age, with respect and
compassion. We are often taught in our early age to respect the elders, while
we should be teaching them to respect all, be it an animal or a human.
This
may sound like a repeat, but Respect is truly earned by personality and
not by age. Respect is a two-way street. Period.
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