The elderly should not tell others to vacate seats

It is saddening to read reports on how senior citizens' request for seats in public transport vehicles have led to quarrels and even scuffles with younger people. If people had even the least "respect for the elderly and love for the young", or showed some mutual understanding, such sorry incidents could have been avoided.

On Sept 10, an elderly bus passenger in Zhengzhou, Henan province, died while quarrelling with a younger man who refused to yield his seat to him. The senior citizen slapped the younger man several times before he collapsed on the bus floor and died, witnesses said. The tragedy came just days after a young bus passenger in Wuhan, Hubei province, was reportedly beaten by five elderly passengers for refusing to offer his seat to one of them.

Whether or not younger passengers should offer their seats to their elderly counterparts (or for that matter, pregnant women, the physically handicapped or children) should not have become a contentious issue. Earmarking seats for senior citizens in public transport vehicles is part of social norms. And by voluntarily offering their seats to the elderly, perhaps in return for a "thank you" or some other expression of gratitude, younger passengers exhibit a facet of harmonious society.