Most of the time I use the train to get around town. There is no need to worry regarding parking and the amount of exercise is considerable, so it is a good deal. I am happy to see the various faces of the passengers, but on the other hand, there is a mixture of regret and sadness.
It’s been a long time since I saw a happy sight on the train. There are a lot of elderly people, probably because it’s past the rush hour, and there are several passengers standing. After a few stops, an old gentleman who looked over eighty got on with a young man who looked like an aide. He’s old and he’s been using the train for a long time, so when he starts, he can’t focus well, so his posture is unstable. A woman in her 60s who was sitting in front of her quickly got up and gave up her seat. Then she sits down with an old man dressed in a classy suit, reluctantly saying thank you.
Even if you don’t give up your seat, it warms your heart as you see that you are willing to yield even if you’re not old enough to be noticed. There seems to be dignity in the kindness. I think to myself, ‘If it were me, I would have stood up and surrendered my seat’. The young woman who was watching this from the other side gets up from her seat and moves towards her exit. She didn’t get off until she had passed a few stops, so she seemed to have left for a woman in her 60s who had yielded her seat to an elderly woman.
After seeing the two women who gave up their seats and the old man who had been given away, I stood up to the destination, but it was not difficult at all, and my heart was full of gentle smiles and warm warmth. The media and adults tell our society that the old-fashioned ideology is dying out, but it seems to have gone back to the time when it was called the Eastern Court of Courtesy. The thought crosses my mind that I hope that our children will not dry up enough to give up their seats when they meet elderly people while riding the train.
A person who has absolutely nothing to do with a pregnant woman is sitting in the seat next to the pregnant woman. Sometimes I wonder how hard it would have been to sit there, but I am filled with regrets that it would have been better to leave it empty as originally intended.
It seems that most of the people who sit in the caring seats for pregnant women are in their 5s and 60s who are noticing sitting in the senior seats. In particular, older women often sit without hesitation when a seat is vacant. There are uncles who sit calmly without any problem. Even young women seem to be sitting with a feeling of ‘I’m going to go empty-handed, but I’m a bit tired.’ I feel pathetic and pitiful when I see him sitting proudly as if he doesn’t know if he doesn’t know what kind of seat it is or if he doesn’t see the words ‘care for pregnant women’ in pink.
The words that I want to say to these people, “Can’t you see the writing on the stone for pregnant women?” or “Are you pregnant?” come up to my throat, but I have no choice but to swallow it. I don’t know what kind of shame or embarrassment I’ve been subjected to for saying that these days. Even though most of them know it, they are tired and seem to do it without much thought. Seeing this, I think that the older I get, the more I have to behave properly so that I can be treated without being looked down on.
As society is tough and individualism is prevalent, the idea of a path seems to have become much thinner than when the baby boomers were growing up. Back when we were in school, it was natural for a seated person to accept a backpack and young people to yield their seats to adults, but it is no longer a common sight. The generation that has seen and learned from childhood in such an environment is still ingrained in the idea of preferential treatment to adults, but the times have changed and they do not even think regarding it and rarely see it.
Even older people should behave properly as adults. I feel embarrassed when I see someone giving up my seat or receiving any help without saying thank you or just being taken for granted. Rather, it should encourage and motivate young people who want to live hard in a fiercely competitive society.
When I see seniors who age gracefully and gracefully, I envy them and want to be like them. It is said that personality is reflected in a person’s face and behavior as they age. How will I appear to others? From now on, I will try my best to shed even a little bit of my gentle and kind grace. It won’t be easy though.
We must live together. On the basis of conscience and morality, without harming others, by properly observing even the minimum norms, it would be great if our society was able to move forward even little by little. What if I and the retiring baby boomers might become a model for young people?
ⓒCho Namdae Writer [email protected]
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