Train Seat Ethics
Perhaps this is not a cultural encounter in the ethnic sense of the term, but there is something about today’s youth, a difference in conscientiousness, that constitutes a culture in another sense of the term. I got on the crowded, mid-rush hour, Brooklyn-bound Q train on Union Square and took the empty seat. I looked behind me as people were still getting on, determining if there was anyone else who could use that empty seat more than I could. There was a grandmother with grocery bags, and she caught my attention. I immediately got up, only to have my seat taken by a fourteen-year-old boy who ran in front of the unknown women. There are countries where that boy would have been beaten for disrespect, or others like my own where his parents would have made sure to raise him otherwise. It makes me wonder whether my own decision to lend a seat was a consequence of my culture or whether discipline has generally been escaping the youth.
4 comments
Ah, finally someone who understands common courtesy! I am surprised at the shocking responses I receive whenever I give up my seat for my elders. I always think, “isn’t it just plain old respect?”
If I were you, I would have given that kid a lesson right there in public.
How else would he ever learn manners?
I understand he was only fourteen, but that really isn’t an excuse to be rude.
I’ll have to agree with Leon.
I hate when I see people run and push through people just to get a seat on the train. Just the other day I saw two people look at each other as if to say that the other could take the open seat, and without care a lady came out of nowhere and sat down right in front of them. It annoys me when I see these people who have no respect for anyone but themselves.